Parties flay razing of communist leader's statue in Tripura

All political parties, including the ruling BJP and opposition Congress, on Friday strongly condemned the demolition of the statue of Tripura's iconic communist leader Baidyanath Majumder by miscreants late on Wednesday night.

The police are yet to arrest the culprits.

Majumder was a founding member of the communist base in Tripura and was Deputy Chief Minister of the state from 1993 to 1998.

The incidednt occurred late on Wednesday night in Unakoti district headquarters Kailashahar, 180 km north from here.

Tripura BJP's general secretary Nitish Dey, opposition Congress Tripura Pradesh chief Birajit Sinha and all top leaders of Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) have separately demanded the arrest of the miscreants.

All these parties have organised protest rallies in Kailashahar and asked the police to arrest the perpetrators.

CPI-M leader Biswarup Goswami has blamed BJP activists for bulldozing the statues of Lenin, Marx, Bhimrao Ambedkar, former Tripura Chief Ministers and father-figures of Communist movement in Tripura, Dasaratha Deb and Nripen Chakraborty.

The BJP has denied the charge.

Former Education and Law Minister and senior CPI-M leader Tapan Chakraborty said the life-size statue was installed in 2012 after the death of Majumder in June 2011 at the age of 88.

Majumder, who was elected to the state assembly five times between 1977 and 1998, was the member of the undivided Communist Party of India and state secretary of CPI-M for many years.

He began his political career in 1942 and was a founding member of the communist movement in Tripura and was also a member of the CPI-M central committee.

--IANS

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