Statue of communist leader razed in Tripura

AGARTALA, July 26: The statue of Tripura’s iconic communist leader Baidyanath Majumder was knocked down by miscreants in northern Tripura late on Wednesday night, the police said.

“We came to know that the statue of Baidyanath Majumder was demolished on Thursday morning. We are looking for the culprits. None has been arrested,” Unakoti district police chief Lucky Chauhan told IANS over phone from district headquarters Kailashahar.

Former Education and Law Minister Tapan Chakraborty, a senior leader of Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), blamed the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) activists.

“We have complained to the police in writing. The police know the criminals. Yet they did nothing to save the statue of the most popular mass leader,” Chakraborty said.

He said that the statue was installed in 2012 after the death of Majumder in June 2011. He was 88.

Majumder, who was elected to the State Assembly five times between 1977 and 1998, was the member of the undivided Communist Party of India. He began his political career in 1942 and was one of the founding members of the communist movement in Tripura. He was the deputy chief minister of the state from 1993 to 1998. (IANS)