BJP general Secretary Ram Madhav tweeted, “People taking down Lenin statue … not in Russia; it is in Tripura. ‘Chalo Paltai’.” However, after the backlash, he deleted the tweet.
Just two days after the Bharatiya Janata Party conquered Tripura winning 43 seats, a statue of famous communist leader Lenin was razed to the ground allegedly by some BJP supporters in the state. The five-year-old Lenin statue was situated in Tripura’s Belonia town. The incident comes amidst the reports of CPM workers being attacked after the defeat at the hands of the saffron party.
On Saturday, the Tripura Assembly elections results were announced. The BJP which had no or minimal presence in the north-east stormed to power ending the 25-years of the undisturbed rule of the CPM. In the past two days, several incidents of houses of CPM workers being attacked and set on fire were reported.
While CPM termed this incident a display of “Communism Phobia”, BJP general Secretary Ram Madhav tweeted a photo of the incident with the caption, “People taking down Lenin’s statue … not in Russia; it is in Tripura. ‘Chalo Paltai’.” However, after the backlash, he deleted the tweet.
The Tripura police have arrested three persons in connection with the case. The Tripura police said it received several complaints of post-poll violence from across the state. It had also arrested the driver of the bulldozer, however, he was later let off on bail.
What one democratically elected government can do another democratically elected government can undo. And vice versa https://t.co/Og8S1wjrJs
— Tathagata Roy (@tathagata2) March 5, 2018
While CPM blamed the newly elected BJP-IPFT alliance for the violence across the state and bulldozing of Lenin statue, BJP leaders have maintained that the Lenin’s statue was brought down by people due to “overflow of anger” against the former CPM government. The state BJP unit also denied the charges of hiring the bulldozer for the takedown of the statue.
On the other hand, Tripura governor Tathagata Roy tweeted saying a newly elected government can undo what previous government has done.
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