Demolition of Lenin statue in Tripura undemocratic: Bengal BJP chief

A day after a statue of Vladimir Lenin was razed in Tripura's Belonia in a case of post-poll violence, West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh condemned the incident terming it as undemocratic.

"An ideology cannot be destroyed by breaking or demolishing something. Such incidents are not democratic," Ghosh told reporters here.

Responding to the CPI-M's allegation of large scale violence and vandalism by the BJP and RSS against their partymen in Tripura, Ghosh said it is a small reaction of the locals and their party activists against the CPI-M's attack on them for the last 25 years.

"People of Tripura were silently bearing the undemocratic attitude and violence by CPI-M for the last 25 years. It was a reaction of their actions. The BJP activists are not outside the society.

"We were beaten up in Tripura for the last 25 years. Nine of our activists died before the election. Four RSS activists were kidnapped and murdered but CPI-M did not take any action. No one has forgotten that," he claimed.

"So they would also have to be at the receiving end to some extent. It is obvious that there would be some percentage of reactions against the terror they have unleashed for so long. There is nothing to be sorry about it," Ghosh added.

According to a leader of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), the 11.5-feet fibre statue of Lenin was brought down with a bulldozer by the BJP activists in South Tripura's district headquarters in Belonia on Monday evening.

--IANS

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