‘Barbaric attack’: TMC says Sushmita Dev, party workers assaulted in Tripura, alleges collapse of law and order

The All India Trinamool Congress on Friday said that party leader Sushmita Dev and several workers were attacked by members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Tripura, where Dev launched the party’s campaign for the upcoming civic body polls.

Taking to Twitter, the party’s Tripura unit shared videos of the attacks and said that the people of Tripura would give a “befitting response” to the attack, which it described as “barbaric.”

In the video shared by AITC Tripura, two to three unidentified men could be seen thrashing a man near the party’s vehicle. “People of #Tripura will give a befitting response to this BARBARIC ATTACK! Police must immediately stop acting as mere spectators. This collapse of law and order is unacceptable. WE DEMAND JUSTICE! #ShameOnBJP,” the party’s Tripura unit tweeted.

Further, the TMC also alleged that Tripura CM Biplab Kumar Deb was behind the attack on its party members. “Once again @BjpBiplab proves that he CANNOT bear the presence of @AITCofficial in Tripura! His GOONS have BRUTALLY attacked us on the very first day of our campaign,” the party said in a subsequent tweet. “Why is @AmitShah silent? What about the safety and security of people in Tripura? Where is Democracy?” it asked.

The TMC also claimed that the BJP has repeated attacked TMC workers in Tripura and created chaos in the state. “Yet another dastardly attack on Trinamool workers under the #DuareGundaRaj of @BjpBiplab! Shame on the @BJP4Tripura government for REPEATEDLY attacking us and creating chaos in the state! Is this what Democracy means to Biplab Deb? Is this what the people of #Tripura deserve?,” the party said.

Meanwhile, TMC’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee slammed the BJP for “manhandling” Dev and called the incident “political terrorism.”

“Under @BjpBiplab's #DuareGundaRaj, attack on political opponents is setting new records! Physically manhandling a sitting female Rajya Sabha MP, @SushmitaDevAITC is BEYOND SHAMEFUL & POLITICAL TERRORISM by @BJP4Tripura goons! The time is near. People of Tripura will answer!” he tweeted.

On Thursday, Dev said that the party would contest in the upcoming civic body elections in Tripura, according to news agency PTI. She started the Tripurar Jonno Trinamool (TMC for Tripura) campaign earlier on Friday and said that she was looking forward to interacting with the people of Tripura.

The tensions between the two parties continued in the state as several TMC members were arrested in the past months in Tripura for alleged violations of Covid-19 norms and TMC leaders had slammed the arrests earlier.