BJP to rebuild razed statue of Left leader: Tripura CM
Agartala, July 28: The BJP will reconstruct the razed statue of Tripura's communist leader Baidyanath Majumder and the police are probing the incident, Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb said here on Saturday.
A Majumder's life-sized statue was knocked down late on Wednesday in Unakoti district headquarters Kailashahar.
Freedom fighter-turned-politician, Majumder was a founding member of the communist base in Tripura in early 1940s. He was Deputy Chief Minister of the state from 1993 to 1998.
"I have asked our party leaders in Kailashahar to rebuild the statue from the party fund. State government will support the initiative.
"This is not the culture of BJP to tear down the statue of a man like Baidyanath Majumder," Deb told the media here.
He said: "I have asked the Director General of Police (Akhil Kumar Shukla) to send the DIG (northern range) to the spot and inquire into the matter. Nobody behind the incident would be spared.
"I have also asked the DGP to see whether this is a part of the conspiracy to tarnish the image of the BJP government."
Deb, also the president of ruling BJP Tripura Pradesh Committee, said : "I knew him (Majumder) when I was a student. He was a very good man."
The Chief Minister's reaction came after widespread criticism of the demolition of the statue of Majumder, who began his political career in 1942.
Majumder was also a member of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) central committee.
All political parties, including the ruling BJP and opposition Congress, earlier strongly condemned the demolition.
The police so far have arrested two persons in this connection. However, the detainees got bail on Friday.
The CPI-M organised protest rallies over the past three days in different parts of the state, including here, demanding action.
Accusing "BJP goons" of pulling down the statue, CPI-M leader Biswarup Goswami has said that the BJP activists earlier bulldozed the statues of Lenin, Marx, Bhimrao Ambedkar, former Tripura Chief Ministers and father-figures of Communist movement in Tripura, Dasaratha Deb and Nripen Chakraborty.
The BJP has, however, denied the charges.
Majumder, who died in 2011, was actively associated with the freedom movement and was a close associate of renowned freedom fighter Surya Sen, who led the Chittagong armoury raid in 1930.
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Man arrested with Rs 2.54-crore heroin in Mumbai
Mumbai (PTI): Police have arrested a man and seized over 500 grams of heroin worth Rs 2.54 crore in the illicit market from him in Mumbai, officials said on Friday.
The police's Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) made the drug seizure in Santacruz in the western suburbs. The operation was conducted by the Kandivali unit of the ANC on Thursday as part of a special crackdown against drug trafficking in the area, they said.
Acting on specific inputs, an ANC team conducted a raid in Santacruz (East) and intercepted a man. During a search, the team recovered 508 grams of high-grade heroin from his possession, an official said.
The seized contraband, a highly addictive, opioid drug derived from morphine, is estimated to be worth Rs 2.54 crore in the international market, he informed.
Following the seizure, a case was registered against the man under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, and he was formally placed under arrest in the early hours of Friday.
The police are currently investigating the source of the drug and trying to identify the intended recipients of the consignment, he said.
