Blaming the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Sanatan Sena — a Hindutva outfit — for laying foundation of a Ram temple at Matai village in South Tripura district, the CPM claimed that the saffron did it by removing a previous memorial of a communist and tribal rights martyr.
The CPM state leader Tapas Dutta alleged, as quoted by Indian Express, “BJP vice-president Subal Bhowmik and one Mrinal Sen, chief of Sanatan Sena’s Tripura chapter, have removed the memorial and laid the foundation stone for a Ram Mandir. There are many temples in the vicinity including Buda Kali Mandir, a very old temple, which has history in Bangladesh and erstwhile East Pakistan. Foundation stone for this Ram Mandir was laid simply to erase the history of left democratic struggle.”
Later along with Deputy Opposition Leader Badal Choudhury, communist veteran Basudeb Majumder and others, Dutta registered a complaint with Belonia police station. He also wrote to the district magistrate seeking reinstatement of the removed memorial stone.
Responding to the complaint, South Tripura Superintendent of Police Jal Singh Meena said, “I don’t know of any incident where a memorial was replaced by a temple’s foundation stone.”
However, BJP leader Subal Bhowmik quashed the allegations. He said, “There was no voice of common people in 25 years of Left Front rule. This land was grabbed by CPI (M). Real owner of the land was present with us on the dais when we laid the foundation stone for Ram Mandir at Matai,” adding, “Ram Mandir shall be built there.”
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