Bulldozing of party offices rocks Tripura Assembly

Bulldozing of party offices, built on government land, by the Tripura government rocked the Assembly on Tuesday too, with the government vowing to continue with such razing.

The issue caused heated debate between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) legislators for the second consecutive day.

"District administrations across the state have identified 591 offices of 11 political parties built on government land. Of the 591, 423 have been demolished so far since March 3," Revenue Minister Narendra Chandra Debbarma told the House.

Replying to the queries of CPI-M MLAs Sudhan Das and Shyamal Chakraborty, the Minister said that the 423 party offices demolished so far included 204 belonging to Left parties, 151 of BJP, 28 of Congress, 23 of IPFT and 13 of INPT.

"According to the Tripura Land Revenue and Land Reforms Act, 1960, there is no provision of allotting land to political parties. Tripura is a high population density state with 350 people living in per square kilometre area. Due to scarcity of land, we should use the land judiciously," Debbarma told the house.

Das and Chakraborty accused the government of undemocratically bulldozing many opposition party offices.

Das said that after the BJP and IPFT (Indigenous People's Front of Tripura) alliance came to power, thousands of attacks were unleashed on Left leaders and members by workers of the ruling parties, resulting in the resignation of hundreds elected representatives of various local bodies.

CPI-M state Secretary Bijan Dhar claimed that over 4,300 attacks were made on Left parties, on their homes and their assets.

The BJP termed the CPI-M's allegations as "double standards".

"The government has been demolishing only those political party offices constructed on government land. Construction of party offices or any other structure on government land is a totally illegal activity that was done during Left Front regime," said BJP spokesman Victor Shome.

--IANS

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