Post-poll violence in Tripura has led to
shops, houses, and rubber plantations being burnt down. Students facing secondary
exams are impacted. In an incident in Udaipur, the cows, and goats of one Prasenjit
Sarkar are burnt to death. Party offices are vandalized. And people are being forced
to give donations (Chanda) for victory celebrations.
This has been the situation of the state
after the results of Assembly elections for the north-eastern state of Tripura were
declared on March 2, where the BJP-led coalition returned to power with 33
seats from 44 last time. As soon as the results became clear, many parts of
the state started to witness incidents of violence. Even after two weeks,
violence continues in some places.
The CPM, whose seat share dropped from 16
to 11 this time, has alleged that its supporters are being attacked by BJP miscreants.
Congress too has alleged that its party supporters are attacked by the saffron
party. The grand old party had a seat-sharing arrangement with the CPM-led Left
Front this time and because of this, it was able to win three seats. Last time,
it had drawn a blank.
A seven-member team of parliamentarians of
CPM-Congress-CPI visited the state to investigate the violence, but
unfortunately, a part of the team was attacked by miscreants in Nehalchandra
Nagar in Bishalgarh. The team thus had to shorten its two-day visit. The house
of CPM MLA Ramu Das was attacked, and his old mother got injured. The post-poll
violence in fact started after the voting, which was largely peaceful, was
completed on February 16. On February 19, a CPM supporter was killed and
police arrested the BJP panchayat pradhan. Post-poll violence intensified after
the results were declared. To be fair, the state had a brutal history of
post-poll violence but it has to be said that this was reduced by the start of the 2010s.
The BJP supporters too are claiming that
they are being attacked. In the hills, where royal scion Pradyot Debbarma’s
TIPRA Motha, which won 13 seats, is dominant, there have been allegations that
miscreants belonging to Motha are attacking mainly the supporters of the
saffron party. In some places, there are allegations against miscreants
belonging to CPM-Congress for attacking the supporters of the BJP. On Monday, a
saffron party worker injured in the BJP-CPM clashes on March 2 succumbed to his
injuries. This also raises questions on CPM, which has been very vocal about
the post-poll violence in the state.
Undoubtedly the BJP, CPM, TIPRA Motha, and
Congress cadres are all involved in the violence. Despite top leaders of
these parties having cautioned them not to indulge in any anti-democratic act and
disturb the peace of the state. As can be seen from the reports of violence,
ground workers and supporters don’t often listen to the appeals made by their
leaders and do whatever they like. This is a serious issue. The leadership of
the political parties has to look into this. They have to put their own house
in order first. Why to throw stones at others when your own house is made of
glass?
Maintaining the law and order of the state
comes under the ruling party. Chief Minister Manik Saha has said that the
miscreants will be dealt with irrespective of political color. However, the
sad part is that violence hasn’t stopped. It is continuing. There is fear among
common people, particularly in areas where there are incidents of violence.
Since the end of militancy in this northeastern
state in 2007-08, violence has been significantly reduced during the elections.
However, hooliganism and attacks on the Opposition have become common traits
since the BJP came to power in the state in 2018 for the first time. Local
elections starting from the rural body to urban body polls were marred by violence
and with tons of allegations of rigging. Even the Lok Sabha polls of 2019
weren’t free from violence. As a result, the Election Commission had to re-order
polling in 168 booths of the West Tripura Lok Sabha seats. And witnessing the
violence in this seat, the Commission had to even reschedule the date of
polling for the East Tripura Lok Sabha seat.
However, the picture changed a little
after the saffron central leadership woke up and finally decided to change the
then Chief Minister Biplab Deb with Manik Saha, who was then the party state
president and member of Rajya Sabha. Although Saha was known as a Deb loyalist,
gradually after assuming the chair, he cultivated his own image. He didn’t
support the violence carried out by the miscreants belonging to his own party
and he had made it clear several times through his statements. The state held
by-elections to four Assembly seats last year and these show a reduction of
violence — a significant change of the scenario that the people of the state
had become familiar with after the change of power in 2018.
That’s also the reason the central
leadership chose Saha again for his clean image with no controversies. But his
clean image is under scanner now as the post-poll violence refuses to stop
despite his clear message of action against perpetrators. Obviously, with the
party returning to power with a thin majority, Saha’s task isn’t easy. There
are forces within the party who are working to tarnish his image — the attack
on the Left-Congress parliamentary delegation seems to only indicate that.
After all, if the law and order aren’t good, the Chief Minister, who holds the
Home portfolio, has to take responsibility. No wonder Saha wasn’t happy
with the attack on the parliamentary team and ordered the police to take action
against the accused persons.
People have the right to vote for their
favorite party. This is the democratic right enshrined in the Constitution of
the country. But here the people are punished for exercising their rights. This
is shameful. What is the significance of celebrating 26th January in
schools and colleges of the state when the rights clearly enshrined in the
Constitution are openly violated through the fire of political violence? This
is also an attack on humanity where people are subjected to fear just for
voting a candidate or a party they like.
It is time for the Saha-led government to
ensure that this anti-democratic post-poll violence is stopped. This type
of violence tarnishes the image of Tripura, which is known for high voter
turnouts, as elections are viewed as a festival. This time too, the turnout
touched 90%.
Unfortunately, the
post-poll violence in Tripura isn’t even a topic of discussion in the
mainstream discourse of the country — and this is a reason for concern for the health of democracy.
The section which was very vocal during the post-poll violence in West Bengal
after the 2021 state polls are silent on the post-poll violence in Tripura. Why
there are no prime-time debates on post-poll violence in Tripura? Or is the
attack on democracy in Tripura not a problem of the country
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