After the election results were declared on Saturday, various reports of sporadic violence and clashes between rival political groups have surfaced in different parts of Tripura.
As the violence in the state raged on, a statue of Left icon Vladimir Lenin was also demolished at Belonia town in South Tripura on Monday with the help of a earth-moving machine.
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According to the media reports, CPM workers alleged that the iconic statue was demolished by the BJP workers.
Following the current situation, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday spoke to the Governor Tathagata Roy and DGP AK Shukla, asking them to ensure peace till a new government is installed.
The act of vandalising Lenin’s statue with the chant of ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ has drawn sharp criticism from the political circuit.
AAP leader Ashutosh took to Twitter and wrote, “Is it a Bamiyan Moment for India? Like Taliban Did in Afghanistan. So BJP is setting the trend. Tomorrow if Congress/Left govt is formed in states/centre then all the symbols of RSS/BJP demolished? This is dangerous, retrograde, result of inferiority complex (sic.).”
In another tweet, he added, “I am not a communist. Always rejected communism. But always believed that Lenin was one of the three greatest leaders of the last century along with Gandhi who changed the course of history. By Insulting Lenin, RSS is insulting itself.”
The state governor Tathagata Roy also took to the micro-blogging site Twitter to talk about the incident and tweeted, “What one democratically elected government can do another democratically elected government can undo. And vice versa.”
In the wake of the incident, CPI(M) tweeted, “You can break our statues but not our spirit!”
Jignesh Mevani wrote, “If this news is true, then aside from taking down Lenin’s statue, I hope you will also take down the casteist Manu statue in Rajasthan High Court!!”
According a report in the Telegraph, BJP spokesperson Mrinal Kanti Deb said he was not aware of any such incident adding that “if it happened, such a move was not approved by BJP”.
Tripura witnessed a change in rule after 25 years in the recently concluded Assembly elections.
(With agency inputs)
