© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Barring five “stray incidents” on polling day, assembly elections in Tripura this year have been relatively peaceful, a testament to the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) ‘Mission Zero Violence Poll’ initiative. However, it was the post-election period that left a lot to be desired. A series of violent incidents saw one death and 20 others injured, and the registration of 22 FIRs.
In his defense, Tripura Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Kiran Dinkarrao Gitte said the figures were overall lower than in the previous election years.
Given the history of violence in Tripura, the poll commission, beginning Monday, is organizing peace meetings in all of 3,337 polling stations of the state where votes were polled on February 16 with the slogan ‘Amra ohingshar pokkhe, Amra shantir pokkhe’ (We are on the side of non-violence, we are on the side of peace).
These meetings were preceded by meetings with government officials at the state, district, sub-divisional and constituency levels, all-party peace meetings, and discussions with poll and security personnel.
At one such ‘peace’ meet, over 200 people gathered at Gokulnagar in Kamalasagar assembly constituency in Sepahijala district. Among those gathered is Narayan Sarkar from Lembutali, a local Bengali singer and lyricist. He performed a song he wrote appealing to people to maintain peace despite political differences.
“I am just a common man like many others who want people to stay united in peace after the elections. Many members of the same family might be involved with different political parties. But everyone will have to stay together after the elections. I want peace to prevail. This peace meeting is a welcome step,” he says.
Septuagenarian Rakhal Debnath from Madhupur village feels an appeal for peace is always welcome after the results are announced on March 2.
Another attendee, 62-year-old farmer Nitai Bhowmik said, “This peace meeting is a very good step. We want peace should be maintained, irrespective of whichever party comes to power.”
However, a few locals pointed out that the peace meeting was held at a community hall next to a local BJP office. A better location could have seen the participation of more people supporting other parties, they felt.
Citing Tripura’s steady record of polling over 90 percent votes over the last several elections, CEO Gitte is confident that residents of the Northeast will rise above political differences.
“Whatever mandate comes up in democracy, should be respected. When India became independent, everyone got voting rights. Nobody was discriminated against on the basis of poor, educated and all.. if we don’t respect the mandate, it would be an insult to the public mandate. Attack on any person, their family, institutions is a crime and against human rights,”he said.
He appealed to people to maintain “brotherhood” and “peace” irrespective of the side winning on March 2. “In case of any problems, approach the administration. Don’t take law into your own hands. Even if someone says something, don’t fight. Fights start from roadside party offices, flags, and banners. We have appealed to all parties to withdraw these. We need to return to normal life,” he said.
