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Journalism of Courage
With Tripura Assembly polls three months away, Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma, chief of the TIPRA Motha party that rules the state’s autonomous tribal council, called for a crackdown on political violence and warned that the situation would otherwise get out of hand.
“It is a matter of great shame that we can justify someone’s death by saying he is a party worker. Anyone who died is an Indian citizen first of all; he is someone’s father, someone’s brother and such. Tripura is a state where we say ‘he died because of the party’ when a party worker dies, but in reality, he is an Indian citizen. Police should be given a free hand to arrest the killers. They should be able to conduct a free and fair inquiry,” Pradyot told reporters at the Ujjayanta Palace annexe building on Friday evening.
Pradyot’s comments came a day after a 75-year-old CPM supporter was killed in a clash with supporters of the ruling BJP at Charilam in West Tripura, the home turf of Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Devvarma. Days before that, a Motha supporter was grievously injured in police action after the party tried to protest during a BJP leader’s visit. The Motha supporter later died in hospital.
Asked about the two incidents, Pradyot said, “We demand action. We do not know which party he is from. For me, personally and on behalf of Motha, those who died were someone’s father or husband first. They were Indian citizens first and party workers later. If anyone dies in political violence, all political parties must condemn it and whoever is the perpetrator, police should take the strictest action.”
Pradyot also said that Assembly elections would soon be due and that if police did not arrest the goons now, the situation would deteriorate. “If we do not stop it now, it will become out of control after two-three months. Goons must be arrested. Goons do not have any party. Please arrest the goons. It is our clear demand to the government,” he said.
Political-violence allegations from the CPM, Congress and the TIPRA Motha come amid Chief Minister Manik Saha’s claims that the law and order situation is perfectly fine in the Northeast state and better than that of many other states. He is also in charge of the home department.
Asked about Saha’s comments, Pradyot said police were never given a free hand in the state. If police had complete freedom to act as per law, all goons would have been in jail now, he said. “Irrespective of whether they are from the BJP, CPM, Congress or Motha or common people, we do not want anyone to face any violence. Such incidents should not be seen through a political lens. This narrative has to be changed,” he said.
Pradyot also said that over 14,000 Motha activists including women would demonstrate at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on December 5 and 6. “We will put forward to the home ministry a demand for Greater Tipraland,” he said.
Tripura, which in 2018 saw the BJP-IPFT combine assume power ending 25 years of continuous Left rule, is scheduled to go to the polls early next year.
