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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We need to create system in which people's skills get their due: Rahul Gandhi
New Delhi (PTI): Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi Friday called for creating a system in which people's skills get their due and everyone's contribution is respected, as he shared a Diwali video in which he interacts with paint job workers and potters.
Posting the over nine-minute video which features him also having a conversation with his nephew Raihan Rajiv Vadra on YouTube, the former Congress chief said, "A memorable Diwali with special people - I celebrated this Diwali working with some painter brothers and making earthen diyas with a potter family."
"I saw their work closely, tried to learn their skills and understood their difficulties and problems. They don't go home. We celebrate festivals happily and to earn some money, they forget their village, city, family," Gandhi said.
"They make happiness from clay. While lighting up the festivals of others, are they able to live in light themselves? Those who build houses can hardly run their own houses!" he said.
Gandhi said Diwali means light that can remove the darkness of poverty and helplessness.
"We have to create such a system -- in which people's skills get their due and contribution is respected -- makes everyone's Diwali a happy one. I hope this Diwali brings prosperity, progress and love in the lives of all of you," he said.
In the video, Gandhi is seen working with labourers at the 10 Janpath residence and learning to paint walls along with his nephew. In the second part of the video, Gandhi goes to the house of a woman who makes earthen lamps with her five daughters.
Gandhi tries his hand at pottery and makes 'diyas', which he says he would give to his mother and sister.
Since his Kanyakumari to Kashmir Bharat Jodo Yatra and his Manipur to Mumbai Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, Gandhi has been interacting with a cross-section of people from mechanics and cobblers to labourers and bus drivers.
He often posts videos of his numerous interactions and highlights the plight of various sections of society.
