Lenin Statue Torn Down In Tripura

lenin statue

Tripura, an eastern-India state, is experiencing post-election violence, which is completely a rightist onslaught on its opposition political activists, the progressives. The onslaught has not spared a statue, a statue of Lenin; and thus it has confirmed the onslaught’s political character: extreme rightist; and extreme right is extreme anti-working classes; and working classes are the biggest segment of people. Thus, the extreme right forces stand against the working people irrespective of color and creed.

The rightist onslaught is evident as NDTV, an Indian news source, said in its “Tripura LIVE Updates: Lenin Statue Razed, Rajnath Singh Dials Top Cop” headlined report (updated: March 06, 2018 13:23 IST – Indian Standard Time):

“The BJP [Bhartiya Janata Party] stunned the Left, in power in Tripura for the last 25 years, winning 43 of the state’s 60 seats along with a regional partner Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) in assembly elections, results for which were announced on Saturday [March 3, 2018].

“CPI (M) [Communist Party of India, Marxist] offices were vandalized in different locations in Tripura.

“A statue of Lenin was razed in Tripura days after the BJP stunned the Left, which was in power in the state for the last 25 years. The Russian revolutionary’s statue was in the heart of Belonia town in south Tripura, 90 km from capital Agartala. The Tripura police today said it has received four complaints of ‘post-poll’ violence from various parts of the state since last night. [….] Tripura was considered the Left’s strongest citadel, presided over by the CPM’s Manik Sarkar, 69, who had been chief minister for 20 years and was seeking re-election for the fifth consecutive term.”

The NDTV updates said:

March 06, 2018

13:23 (IST)

CPI-M leader Haripada Das said the [Lenin] statue was set up a year ago in Belonia […]

March 06

13:22 (IST)

Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy, in a tweet said: ‘What one democratically elected government can do another democratically elected government can undo. And vice versa.’

13:16

Biplab Deb has been elected by party legislators as their leader in the state assembly and is expected to take oath as chief minister on Friday, March 9 at a grand ceremony likely to be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and where the BJP plans to showcase its many chief ministers from around the country.

13:02

SUCI [Socialist Unity Center of India] protest against the bringing down of the Lenin statue in Tripura at 4.30 pm in Bangalore today.

12:37

Sunil Deodhar, the BJP’s Tripura in-charge, to NDTV: We are against this intolerance of any kind and we don’t support this… Those who did this are not party workers. They are common man (sic).

12:32

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, addressing the BJP Parliamentary Party meeting today, called the BJP’s win over the Left in Tripura a ‘victory of ideology’ and said the party needs to work hard to maintain its winning electoral streak.

12:12

Section 144 imposed in several violence-affected areas in Tripura: news agency ANI.

11:54

Sitaram Yechuri [CPM General Secretary] to address the media at 2.30 today.

All CPM leaders attending the state conference will march from venue to Lenin statue in Kolkata at 4.30 pm.

11:17

Three people have been arrested over the last 48 hours in Tripura, for what the police has described, as ‘post-poll’ violence. The police said on Monday that it had received four complaints of violence from various parts of the state since Sunday night.

10:37

Home Minister Rajnath Singh today spoke to the state governor and the DGP and asked them to ensure peace till a new government is installed, an official said.

10:29

Left party Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist) to hold protests in Kolkata this afternoon against the razing down of Lenin’s statue in Tripura.

09:51

BJP does not ever practice culture of violence. In places like Tripura, Left parties have chosen to be silent about 11 BJP workers who were killed. Some of those who support Left parties are trying to foist these kind of debates that a statue is removed: Nalin Kohli of the BJP.

09:39

The CPI (M) alleged BJP workers have gone on a vandalism spree in the last 48 hours. The state BJP has hit out, alleging people posing as BJP workers are behind the violence; Home Minister Rajnath Singh has spoken to the Governor and police chief, asking them to stop violence.

09:31

‘The cases include arson at two CPI(M) offices in the Sidhai area in West Tripura district, 25 km from here, and clashes between CPI(M) and BJP supporters at Kadamtala in North Tripura district,’ Superintendent of Police (Control) Pradip De said.

In another NDTV update (“Left, BJP Blame Game Over Tripura Post-Poll Violence, Lenin Statue Razed”, edited by Debjani Chatterjee, updated: March 06, 2018 11:04 IST), a few more violence related info. was found:

“Clashes between BJP and Left supporters were reported across Tripura over the last 48 hours, after BJP-led alliance swept the Assembly elections in the state, unseating the two-decades-old CPM government of Manik Sarkar. CPM offices were attacked in state capital Agartala and elsewhere; a Lenin statue […] was razed by bulldozers.

“Eyewitnesses claimed bulldozers, allegedly brought in by BJP workers, demolished the statue amid chants of ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ [Long Live Mother India], according to reports.

“Home Minister, Rajnath Singh, has spoken to the Governor and the police chief of Tripura and asked them to check violence till a new government is in place.

“[…]

“[…]

“The CPI (M) tweeted, alleging workers of the Bhartiya Janata party were ‘spreading fear’ in the state.

“Tripura CPI (M) secretary, Haripada Das, alleged that over 240 people have been injured in attacks on party offices and offices of Left-backed trade unions; he claimed homes of leaders have also not been spared. Speaking to reporters, Mr Das said that supporters of the BJP and its ally Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) were terrorizing Left workers and vandalizing party offices since the announcement of poll results on March 3.

“‘Arson, attacks and loot were carried out in around 1,539 houses. Many rubber gardens, hundreds of small shops, were forcibly occupied, ransacked or burned at around 500 places,’ CPI-M state secretary and central committee member Bijan Dhar told reporters on Monday night. The party said it has ‘urged the administration and the BJP leadership to take adequate measures to stop these post-poll violence immediately.’

“The BJP claimed that the CPI (M) workers, too, have beaten up 49 of its supporters; 17 of whom had to be hospitalized. On a cautious note, the BJP has warned its leaders and supporters in Tripura of ‘stern’ action if they indulged in ‘post-poll violence’.

“The state Vice President of the party, Subal Bhowmick claimed, ‘A section of unidentified BJP supporters, who migrated from the CPI (M), were creating unrest in parts of the state’.

“The BJP has sent union ministers, Nitin Gadkari and Jual Oram, as central observers who will be present at the meeting of the newly-elected lawmakers of BJP-IPFT alliance in Agartala.”

The two NDTV-reports cited above are full with violence related info. Political leadership’s moves, as the reports said, confirm acts of violence carried out in Tripura. Has not the class character of the violence been exposed as it razed down Lenin’s statue? Shall the violence-hawkers’ image brighten up with the Tripura act? The exploited people everywhere condemn the exploiter’s violence. The world gets another evidence of the hawkers’ class character.

All the working people around the world stand by Lenin as Lenin stands against exploiter’s violence inflicted on the exploited people. Lenin’s stand is always along class line: Workers of the world unite. In this stand, there’s no divisive line other than the line between the exploited and the exploiters, which is forgotten very often now-a-days.

Lenin lives as struggle of the exploited moves on. In Tripura, struggle of the exploited has not concluded. It’s in the midst of the journey. The struggle shall continue as long as there’s class struggle. No violence of the exploiters can eliminate class struggle, can muzzle down Lenin’s voice, can lay down the red flag Lenin upholds.

Farooque Chowdhury, writing from Dhaka, has not yet authored/edited any book dealing with non-earthly issues, and he does neither operate any blog/web site nor any facebook nor similar accounts.

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