Nagarik Mancha attacks RSS meeting; 9 grievously injured

In what seems to be tactic of muscle flexing, activists associated with Nagarik Suraksha Mancha, a self styled organization which claimed to be working in the interest of Bengali community, attacked a meeting of RSS activists leaving 9 people critically injured at Kanchanpur on Tuesday. All the 9 persons were shifted to Dharmanagar hospital (North Tripura District Hospital) for better treatment.

However, an FIR was lodged with the Kanchanpur police station accusing the Nagarik Mancha for launching the attack. The police had so far arrested 20 people who were involved in the attack. Nagarik Mancha president Ranjit Nath, on the other hand, refused the allegations raised by the RSS and clarified that their organization had no links with the attacks. 

Local sources said, in order to bring in peace and harmony between the tribes and non-tribes, the RSS came up with the idea of a “Sadbhabana Mancha”--a peace making institution. “The idea was to bring in peace. In Kanchanpur, some forces were trying wholeheartedly to vitiate the situation. They had in certain times, raised some specific issues centering the Bru refugee resettlement that further escalated and reached to extreme points like clashes and arson”, RSS prant pracharak Tapas Roy said. 

In his words, “The Nagarik Mancha, being one of such forces, was trying to mislead the people of Kanchanpur willfully to satisfy their political interests. They were trying to drive their own agenda fomenting people against the tribal communities. But, as RSS came with the idea of a joint platform to keep the peace and tranquility intact, the Nagarik Mancha found it hard to be digested”. 

Bijay Roy, another RSS activist of North Tripura district said, on Tuesday, the beginning day of the platform, three separate meetings were convened at different parts of Kanchanpur maintaining all the health restrictions. In the Dasda school meeting, all of sudden, a group of 30 to 40 people stormed into the venue and attacked the Sangha people. Altogether 9 RSS leaders including North Tripura district Sanghchalak Vibekanda Bhattcharjee sustained serious injuries after being assaulted by the Mancha people, he added. 

He also said that a complaint had been lodged against 30 people with the Kanchanpur police station. “20 persons had been arrested. Arrangements of their rapid antigen tests were being done and then they would be produced before the Court. Additional police superintendent Francis Darlong was himself investigating the case and as we had been informed by the police, the process tracing all the accused was still on”, Roy told reporters. 

On the other hand, Nagarik Mancha denied any links with the incident and claimed that some of the businessmen of Dasda market prevented them from conducting the meeting leading to a minor scuffle between them.