Three shops were set on fire and some vehicles damaged when ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and opposition Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI (M) supporters clashed at Rajdharnagar in poll-bound Tripura’s Gomati district, police said on Wednesday.
District police superintendent Ajit Pratap Singh said that they arrested one person and detained seven others for questioning. “We have started our investigation. We have deployed police and the situation is under control.”
Police said the clash was reported at 8pm on Tuesday night and that they registered two cases.
Initial reports claimed former chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb’s ancestral home and some priests performing some rituals there were attacked. Police clarified the clash took place far away from Deb’s home. They also denied media reports blaming a community for the attack as “false and not based on facts”.
CPI (M) leader Pabitra Kar said all political parties have been putting up their flags ahead of the assembly polls this year. “A few workers of the ruling party objected as our activists were putting up flags...[They] also ransacked our party office, destroyed our flags and festoons.”
CPI (M) ruled Tripura for two decades before the BJP was voted to power in 2018.
{{/usCountry}}CPI (M) ruled Tripura for two decades before the BJP was voted to power in 2018.
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