2 held for vandalising Communist leader's statue in Tripura

Two persons have been arrested for vandalising a statue of veteran Communist leader Baidyanath Majumder at Srirampur in Unakoti district of Tripura, located about 185 km from here, police said today.

District Superintendent of Police Lucky Chauhan said the incident took place late on Wednesday and two youths have been arrested in this connection.

However, we have not found any political angle into the incident, she said.

It may be recalled that soon after the BJP came to power in the state, a group of miscreants had bulldozed the statue of Communist icon Vladimir Lenin at Belonia, the headquarters of South Tripura district, in May this year.

Locals informed Wednesday's incident to police who accordingly tried to identify the miscreants.

"Two youths, identified as Litan Sarkar and Ranjit Nama were arrested in this connection," Chauhan said.

Baidyanath Majumder's statue was set up in 2012 after his death the year before. Majumder was the Deputy Chief Minister of the state in the cabinet of veteran Communist leader Dasharath Deb from 1993 to 1998.

Former Education and Law Minister Tapan Chakraborty, also a senior leader of (CPI-M), alleged that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) activists had knocked down the statue.

"He was the most respected mass leader in the state irrespective of political affiliations, Chakraborty said.

BJP state secretary Nitish Dey demanded arrest of the miscreants behind the incident, irrespective of their political colour.

The saffron party also took out a procession yesterday at Kailashahar town protesting against the incident, Dey said.

State Congress president Birajit Sinha alleged that the BJP government has created a "terror-like" situation in the state.

The CPM today took out a protest rally at Agartala protesting against the incident.

Speaking to reporters, former Deputy Speaker Pabitra Kar, who led the rally, said, The ruling BJP is leading a series of attacks against the Communists here. They demolished our party offices and then started bulldozing them by government decision. They vandalized statues of many great leaders. But Communists cannot be wiped out from Tripura by these acts.