BJP, CPM at loggerheads over Ram Mandir foundation in Tripura

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and opposition Communist Party of India (Marxist) in Tripura are at loggerheads over the foundation of a Ram temple in the state's southern Matai village, according to a report by The Indian Express.

The CPI(M) has claimed that the foundation stone for the temple was laid by the BJP and the Sanatan Sena, a Hindutva outfit, after removing a memorial of Mohini Tripura, a communist leader.

"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," CPI (M) state leader Tapas Dutta told the newspaper. Dutta added that this was done in order to "erase the history of Left democratic struggle."

Mohini Tripura, according to the report, was a tribal rights leader who led a movement in 1968 against the then Congress-led state government.

After coming to power in 1967, the Congress government prohibited the practice of 'jhum' or shifting cultivation in forest lands. The practice was followed by the tribal population in the state for their sustenance. Mohini Tripura was gunned down while leading a protest against the decision.

After the Left Front government came to power in the state in 1978, the communists built the memorial at Matai, apart from dedicating a school and a village to Mohini Tripura's memory.

The BJP, however, claimed that the land where the memorial was built was illegally grabbed from a local person.

"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 [sic]," BJP vice-president Subal Bhowmik told the newspaper.

According to the report, while state communist leaders registered a complaint against the move, South Tripura Superintendent of Police Jal Singh Meena said that he was unaware of the development.

"I don’t know of any incident where a memorial was replaced by a temple’s foundation stone," Meena said.

Earlier in March, the two parties were at loggerheads after the statue of Soviet-era leader Vladimir Lenin was pulled down, allegedly by BJP supporters. The incident followed BJP's historic victory in the Tripura assembly elections, bringing an end to the Left Front's 25-year rule.

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