BJP running autocratic govt in Tripura: Trinamool

Agartala, July 28 A three-member team of the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal comprising two minister and a former Rajya Sabha member reached Tripura on Wednesday in connection with the alleged "house arrest" of 23 I-PAC members by the police in Agartala.

On July 26, the Trinamool had alleged that 23 members of political strategist Prashant Kishor's Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) have been placed under 'house arrest' in Agartala even though the police termed the claim as 'totally false' and 'fabricated'.

On Wednesday, the Trinamool delegation accused the BJP government in Tripura of running an authoritarian and autocratic government.

After a meeting with the I-PAC members at a hotel here, senior Trinamool ministers Bratya Basu and Moloy Ghatak, along with the party's Rajya Sabha member Ritabrata Banerjee, told the media that the BJP has become traumatised after Trinamool's recent Assembly election triumph in Bengal.

Ghatak, who holds the law portfolio, said that the ruling BJP and its machineries have been suppressing the voice of the people and the opposition ever since the saffron party came to power in Tripura in March 2018.

"The BJP leaders and workers with the help of goons regularly attack the leaders and workers of the opposition parties. They even don't allow the other parties to carry out any organisational work," Ghatak said.

He alleged that democracy is being ruined by the BJP in Tripura and in other parts of the country.

Basu, who holds the education portfolio in West Bengal, said that such authoritarian and autocratic rule is dangerous for democracy.

Ritabrata Banerjee, a Left leader-turned-Trinamool member, said that while the BJP has been suppressing the voice of the people and the opposition parties in Tripura, people have no faith in the Left parties led by the CPI-M.

"There is no alternative to Trinamool in Tripura," he said, adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi only believes in monologues and never supports or pursues dialogue and discussions.

The three Trinamool leaders will stay in Tripura for three days to study the political situation in the BJP ruled state. They are likely to meet some political leaders to strengthen their party organisation in the northeastern state.

On Monday, the national General Secretary of Trinamool Congress, Abhishek Banerjee, had alleged in a tweet: "The fear in BJP Tripura before even AITC officials stepped into the land, is more than evident!

"They are so rattled by our victory in Bengal that they've now kept 23 IPAC employees under house arrest. Democracy in this nation dies a thousand deaths under BJP's misrule!"

However, the police in Agartala had said that the 23 persons claimed to be members of I-PAC were lodged in a hotel in the state capital since last week and there was no question of any house arrest.

"In view of the Covid pandemic and other law and order related issues, few police personnel, as part of routine check-up, went to the hotel only to verify their papers," Ramesh Chandra Yadav, a sub-divisional police officer, had told on Monday night.

He said that such routine verification of papers is done for all people, especially those coming to Tripura from outside.

Sources said the I-PAC team came to Tripura last week to assess the political situation in the state and look at the potential support base for Trinamool before the 2023 Assembly elections in Tripura.