Friendly battle: BJP MP’s house attacked, IPFT men injured in retaliation

Tension prevailed at Gandacherra followed by Pitched battles between the supporters of IPFT and BJP, coalition partners in the present BJP-IPFT government. Series of attacks and counter attacks carried out by excited supporters of both the parties turned the situation highly tense and explosive underneath since last night.

According to local sources, the clashes began centering an attack on the residence of newly elected MP Rebati Tripura late on the Friday night leaving when two BJP supporters sustained serious injuries. In an attempt of fight back, the BJP supporters also attacks on the local IPFT supporters.

Reports indicated that newly elected MP from East Tripura Parliamentary constituency Rebati Tripura narrowly escaped the violent attack last night, as he was at Agartala for some party affairs. It was reported that a group of masked miscreants barged into the Gandacherra residence of the MP and were looking for Rebati Tripura. Since the MP was not in residence the miscreants ran amok and ransacked his property.

“The attack was carried out aiming Rebati Tripura. But, fortunately he was not there at the time, thus the miscreants destroyed his property”, said a neighbor of the MP.

The miscreants also attacked the neighboring house of Reabati’s brother-in-law. During the attack, two motor cycles were also set on fire. When two BJP activists Charan Tripura and Subhankar Debnath went there to find out what was happening, they were also beaten up mercilessly. Soon after the attack, police was informed by the locals but both the OC and SDPO of Gandacherra were out of reach.

Even, MP Rebati Tripura himself called both the OC and SDPO several times late in the night but none of them were there to speak. Later on, SP Dhalai district was informed regarding the incident and police contingents were sent to the spot near about 45 minutes later of the attack.

As the group of miscreants was bigger in size than the police team and carrying sharp weapons, they opened three rounds of fire in the air to disperse the mob. The injured BJP supporters were rushed to the hospital.

Subhankar Debnath had been referred to the GBP hospital in critical conditions. However, MP Rebati Tripura while speaking to the media persons, accused the IPFT behind this attack and said, it was well planned attack carried out by the IPFT. They tried to assault me. The inaction of police officials posted at the local police station also gave them an extra edge during the entire episode of violence.

However, this led to a series of political confrontation between the followers of both the parties prevailing tension throughout the Subdivision. In the first counter attack, the house of Prem Sadhan Jamatia, the suspected mastermind of the late night attack, was set ablaze allegedly by the supporters of BJP.

Moreover, chairperson of Ganganagar block Jiban Reang who is also a member of the IPFT central committee was attacked at Ambassa while returning home. Alarmed by the attacks on IPFT supporters a team of IPFT higher-ups under the leadership of Forest Minister Mevar Kumar Jamatia rushed to Gandacherra this morning.

He visited the houses of both Prem Sadhan and Jiban. Speaking to the media persons, he refuted all the allegations labeled against his party workers and condemned the series of attacks carried out on the IPFT supporters. He also expressed displeasure over the behavior of BJP.

Meanwhile, huge contingents of police, TSR and CRPF personnel were deployed at the area to resist any untoward incident. Internet and electricity services were also shut down to thwart beginning of any malicious campaign over the issue. State BJP spokesperson Nabendu Bhattacharjee condemned the incident and said, police had been directed to take necessary actions from the government. No arrests had been reported till filing the report. However, the clashes also triggered tension in the adjacent areas such as Kalajhari, Ganganagar and Raisyabari where BJP and IPFT supporters reported to have involved in threats and counter threats. Accordingly, security deployment was intensified in those areas to prevent any untoward incident. The vehement incidents also brought the public life to a standstill throughout Gandacherra since last night.