They are learnt to have visited several places across Tripura for a survey on assessing public experience of governance in the last 4-5 days.
Tripura state government asked a team of 23 members of Prashant Kishor’s Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) to stay put inside a city-based private hotel during their visit to Tripura, essentially putting them under house arrest, the Indian Express reported.
The team had been put up at a private hotel in Agartala. They are learnt to have visited several places across Tripura for a survey on assessing public experience of governance in the last 4-5 days.
On Monday morning, a team of police and health officials visited the hotel and questioned them about their purpose of visit and stay. The team was also enquired about their Covid-19 RT-PCR test reports and asked to stay indoors till health authorities give the necessary clearance.
A senior official from the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) told the Express that the I-PAC team was asked to stay indoors at their hotel since they are a large group comprising 23 people and the government wants to avoid any unwanted spread of Covid-19.
While denying reports of detaining the visiting team members, East Agartala Police Station in-charge Inspector Saroj Bhattacharjee said they were asked to stay indoors at their hotel till the health authorities were satisfied with their COVID test reports and provided them necessary clearance.
Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, reacting to this incident, tweeted that the I-PAC employees were kept under house arrest since the BJP is “rattled” by TMC’s victory in Bengal.
“The fear in @BJP4Tripura before even @AITCofficial stepped into the land, is more than evident! They are so rattled by our victory in #Bengal that they’ve now kept 23 IPAC employees under house arrest. Democracy in this nation dies a thousand deaths under BJP’s misrule!” he wrote on his official Twitter handle.
The fear in @BJP4Tripura before even @AITCofficial stepped into the land, is more than evident!
They are so rattled by our victory in #Bengal that they've now kept 23 IPAC employees under house arrest.
Democracy in this nation dies a thousand deaths under BJP's misrule!
— Abhishek Banerjee (@abhishekaitc) July 26, 2021
Condemning the obstruction of movement of the I-PAC team, Tripura Trinamool Congress president Ashish Lal Singh claimed that the BJP-led state government has put them under virtual “house arrest” since the government is scared of the survey results.
“I am shocked and ashamed as a citizen of Tripura. This is not our culture. BJP is trying to rape the democracy and culture of Tripura. The state government is scared that their misrule in Tripura will get exposed if the I-PAC team completes their survey. That’s why they put them under a virtual house arrest”, Singh said. He added that the team has already collected sufficient details from their tours in different parts of the state and are convinced that given an alternative, the people don’t want the BJP to stay in power.
The I-PAC team was questioned at their hotel as part of a “routine police checkup”, West Tripura Police Superintendent Manik Das.
As an independent media platform, we do not take advertisements from governments and corporate houses. It is you, our readers, who have supported us on our journey to do honest and unbiased journalism. Please contribute, so that we can continue to do the same in future.
