Tripura lynching cases trigger political blame game

Three separate lynching cases in a day in Tripura triggered a blame game between the ruling BJP and the opposition CPI(M) and Congress today.

Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb and Law Minister Ratan Lal Nath blamed the CPI(M) for the lynching incidents, while the left party and the Congress held Nath responsible for the cases.

A man hired by the Tripura Information and Culture Department to spread awareness against rumour-mongering, an unidentified woman, and a hawker from Uttar Pradesh were beaten to death on the suspicion of being child-lifters in three districts of the state yesterday.

Assistant Inspector General of Police (law and order) Smriti Ranjan Das said 12 people were arrested in the three cases till this evening.

The mobs had been charged because of the "baseless" comments of organ harvesting by Nath and he is liable for the three deaths, state Congress vice-president Tapas Dey alleged in a press conference here.

The body of an 11-year-old boy with deep wounds on the neck and back was found at Bhumiheen Colony of Mohanpur sub-division in West Tripura district on Wednesday.

Nath, who is the MLA of Mohanpur assembly constituency, has visited the bereaved family the same day.

"In a video that went viral on social media, Nath was seen stating the wounds on the boy's body suggested that his kidneys might have been extracted," Dey said.

However, the chief minister said in the assembly yesterday that no organs were harvested from the boy's body, he said.

The party demanded a probe into the incidents.

CPI(M) spokesperson Goutam Das alleged that the law minister himself should be held responsible for rumour-mongering over the organ harvesting racket.

"How can a minister make such claims without verification? He should take moral responsibility and resign. Otherwise, the chief minister should sack him," Das said.

Deb, the chief minister, said, "The CPI(M) has hatched a conspiracy to tarnish the image of the government with an ulterior motive. Many of those arrested in connection with the incidents were CPI(M) workers."
Nath said, "It is the blue print of the CPI(M) to destabilise the BJP-IPFT government, which came to power only three months ago and is providing governance without bias."