Tension ran high after Tripura police arrested Trinamul Youth Congress general secretary Debangshu Bhattacharya, former Chattra Parishad president Jaya Dutta and students’ wing leader Sudip Raha along with 14 other Tripura Trinamul leaders this morning for violating Covid-19 restrictions. But later they were granted bail by the court for personal bonds of Rs 50,000.

Tension also ran high on court premises when Trinamul leaders’ cars including that of Subal Bhowmik who recently joined the Trinamul Congress from the BJP were allegedly vandalised by the BJP backed goons and police stood as mere onlookers said Abhishek Banerjee on arriving at Agartala airport said,

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“This is the beginning of the end of Biplab Deb’s rule in Tripura. It is a fight between the people of Tripura and BJP. I have come twice in this week to Tripura and the way the BJP goons attacked us shows there is no democracy
in Tripura.”

“Tripura is an Indian state. But BJP chief minister Biplab Deb is pretending as if Tripura is his ancestral property and one will have to procure visa from him to enter Tripura. We will raise this issue in both the Houses of Parliament, tomorrow,” Abhishek said.

He added there is jungle raj in Tripura. The BJP is not allowing the Opposition to carry out their party’s political activities in Tripura. “Total anarchy and goondaraj are going on in Tripura. But we will fight till democracy is established in Tripura and we will fight with the last drop of blood in our body,” Abhishek stated.

He said, “I’m leaving for Kolkata in a special flight tonight with my injured Trinamul workers- Jaya Dutta, Debangshu Bhattacharya, Sudip Raha who sustained a head injury and no medical treatment was meted out to him by the Tripura administration.”

Abhishek along with his party colleagues had a heated discussion with the officer-in-charge of the Khowai police station. He argued that police took no action against the complaints lodged by Trinamul Congress but lodged suo motu cases against the Trinamul leaders. He left the police station after Trinamul leaders were granted bail by the court.

A three-member delegation from Kolkata comprising state education minister Bratya Basu, party’s Rajya Sabha MP, INTTUC national president Dola Sen and party’s spokesperson and state general secretary Kunal Ghosh reached Agartala and headed for Khowai police station where Trinamul leaders were arrested.

Basu told the reporters, “The police here have reduced to mere stooges of the ruling party. Our youths and students leaders were arrested, no medical treatment was meted out to them, no food nor drinking was supplied to them. “Moreover, those BJP goons who attacked our leaders were roaming freely and police did not dare to arrest them. Instead, they arrested those leaders who were attacked and injured. This shows that BJP in Tripura has unleashed a reign of terror.”

Debangshu Bhattacharya said: “Yesterday after our car was vandalised by BJP goons in Ambassa, and Sudip and Jayadi got injured we put up a road blockade to protest against this barbaric attack. We were trying to return to Tripura, but the police said it is not safe and now they are registering false cases against us that we carrying out rallies even after 7 p.m.”

Trinamul spokesperson Kunal Ghosh also slammed the police for standing as mere onlookers when the BJP backed goons vandalised their cars on the court premises. He condemned it as a ‘barbaric act’ and asked the policeman on duty why he failed to prevent the BJP goons from smashing their cars. Bengal’s panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee said, “It is a state-sponsored crime in Tripura where our young leaders were attacked and later arrested by Tripura police.”