Form of words:
Kolkata: Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Sushmita Dev has been attacked with sticks in the Amtali police station area of Tripura, about nine kilometers from Agartala.
Dev, whose father Santosh Mohan Dev was a Congress MLA from the area, was leading a door-to-door election campaign on Friday when his convoy was attacked.
Trinamool sources told ThePrint that the MP, his aides and members of the I-PAC, the political consultative group led by Prashant Kishor, were pulled from their vehicles, and beaten on the streets, while vehicles were vandalized.
Around six Trinamool workers and IPAC members were critically injured, while Sushmita Dev sustained ligament injuries, sources said.
Speaking to ThePrint from the spot, Dev said that at least 20-25 people surrounded his car.
“It sounds like a pre-planned attack. We were around 12 to 14 people, who were campaigning door to door for the upcoming municipal elections in Tripura in November. Our car is a well-advertised one, with pictures of Mamata Banerjee and the logo of Trinamool,” said Dev.
“A group of 25 to 30 people suddenly surrounded our car and started hitting it; They broke the windshield of the car, and dragged my comrades out of the car. They snatched my bag, threw my phone on the streets. The attack lasted for 30 to 40 minutes, while some uniformed men stood silent on the spot. I ran towards the police station to save myself. I have never seen political violence so closely. It was utter bullshit.”
He said the police did nothing to intervene. “The police station is located at a distance of 500 meters from the spot, but no intervention was made,” Dev said. “It looks like state-backed violence and was pre-planned to intimidate and intimidate the Trinamool Congress.”
Tripura made it to the news last month when Political violence shook the state As CPI(M) officials, their vehicles were torched.
Dev said TMC is now on target as BJP is worried about its rise.
“The CPM is nowhere to be seen now, and the Congress is an utterly insignificant force. The BJP understands that Trinamool is the only formidable opposition and that is why they feel insecure.
“But, we are not Congress, we are Trinamool Congress. I have spoken to our national general secretary Abhishek, who has told me to stay strong. Tomorrow we will have a big agitation because a team including ministers and MPs will be here from Kolkata.
Political Violence of Tripura
The Trinamool Congress is a new entrant in the north-eastern state, but Tripura has a history of seeing politically charged elections.
In 2019, the ruling BJP won nearly 86 per cent of the seats unopposed in the panchayat elections. There are about 6,100 panchayat seats in the state, but the CPI(M) and the Congress filed nominations in about 10 per cent of the total seats. allegation of intimidation By ‘Armed BJP Gang’.
Municipal elections are due in the state at the end of November and assembly elections within the next one-and-a-half year.
Trinamool Congress, which is running on expansion mode, has entered with Abhishek Banerjee as its in-charge.
According to Sushmita Dev, the party will contest on all seats in the upcoming municipal elections.
(Edited by Arun Prashant)
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