HT Correspondent
AGARTALA, July 08: CPI(M), Tripura State Committee, on Tuesday wrote a letter to Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha, demanding that the police be allowed to remain non-partisan and act freely to take legal action against law-breakers, irrespective of any party or religious identity.
A four-member delegation, including Leader of the Opposition Jitendra Chaudhury, former minister Naresh Jamatia, former minister and CITU leader Manik Dey, and Krishna Rakshit, has written a letter to the Chief Minister alleging massive attacks on opposition party workers, allegedly by miscreants mostly patronized by BJP and Tipra Motha.
“It is most unfortunate and disturbing that, at a time when you are in charge of Home Affairs and admiring the state’s law and order situation to be quite normal and satisfactory, some miscreants, mostly patronized by BJP and Tipra Motha, have been desperately ridiculing your claim by unleashing one after another dastardly attack on the opposition’s campaign programme — as if the so-called ‘Sushashan’ proclaimed by you is really the ‘Sushashan’ of the law-breakers, taking advantage of the inaction of a section of police officers,” the letter reads.
The CPI(M) leaders have also mentioned incidents starting from 17th June to 7th July, where opposition workers came under attack, offices were vandalized and ransacked, most of which took place in front of the police, who not only remained silent spectators during the attacks but, in most cases, were seen as abettors of the miscreants.
“To sum up all the above incidents, it conclusively establishes that the law and order situation of the state at this moment is not in the hands of the police, but rather lies at the whims of some miscreants patronized by the ruling BJP and Tipra Motha. This apathetic attitude of the police, giving a free hand to suppress the opposition and disrupt their activities, has also percolated into the general law and order situation, which is deteriorating to an alarming extent. In spite of all these, we, on behalf of the CPI(M), Tripura State Committee, confide in you and expect that you will let the police be non-partisan and act freely to take legal action against law-breakers, irrespective of any party or religious identity. Please don’t let the Tripura Police tarnish its glorification of the ‘President’s Colour’ by the partisan actions of a section of them in the name of suppressing the opposition and thereby allowing the deterioration of general law and order in the state,” the letter reads.