Will boycott Friday's swearing-in of Tripura government: Left leader

The Left Front leaders will boycott the swearing-in of the BJP-led government spearheaded by Biplab Kumar Deb on Friday to protest "large-scale violence" in Tripura after the Assembly elections, Left leaders said on Thursday.

However, outgoing Chief Minister Manik Sarkar and elected leaders of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) will attend the ceremony, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah would be present.

Left Front Convenor Bijan Dhar said that since the declaration of Assembly election results on Saturday, around 400 offices of the Left parties and frontal organisations were attacked, 85 party offices burnt down, 315 offices of various Left parties and frontal organisations were forcibly occupied, 1,704 houses belonging to Left members and supporters attacked and around 200 houses set on fire.

He claimed that 290 shops owned by Left members and supporters were burnt down, 10 rubber gardens destroyed, over 600 Left members and supporters assaulted badly, 10 vehicles damaged. This had forced thousands of persons to take refuge elsewhere in the state.

A Left Front delegation led by CPI-M Central Committee member Gautam Das on Thursday met Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Sriram Taranikanti and demanded deferment of polls in Charilam constituency (Reserved-Tribal), where election could not be held on February 18 after the death of Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) candidate.

The Left leaders claimed that there is no conducive environment to hold polls in Charilam in western Tripura.

Das said the CPI-M delegation submitted a detailed account of what he called a reign of terror unleashed by the workers of BJP and its ally IPFT (Indigenous People's Front of Tripura).

"More than 11 permanent party offices and two district committee offices of CPI-M and RSP (Revolutionary Socialist Party) were burnt down, many trade union offices forcibly occupied in Charilam area and CPI-M candidate Palash Debbarma fled from the area to save his life," Das later told the media.

He said around 60 CPI-M leaders' houses were attacked and 19 party leaders physically assaulted by BJP-IPFT workers whereas all 40 booth offices of CPI-M in Charilam have been burnt down.

Das said several thousand Left Front members and workers had been forcibly evicted from Charilam segment.

Tripura's erstwhile royal family's scion Jishnu Debbarma, who has been named the Deputy Chief Minister in the new government, is the BJP nominee from Charilam.

"We urge the administration and the BJP leadership to take adequate measures to stop these post-poll violence immediately," said Dhar, a CPI-M central committee member.

--IANS

sc/tsb/dg