BJP to rebuild razed statue of communist leader Baidyanath Majumder : 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.
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. No body 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 Chittgong armoury raid in 1930.
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Fire breaks out in residential building in east Delhi, nine killed
New Delhi (PTI): At least nine people were killed after a fire broke out in a residential building in east Delhi's Vivek Vihar early Sunday, officials said.
The incident was reported around 3.48 am at a four-storey building in Vivek Vihar Phase-I, following which police, fire and disaster management teams rushed to the spot.
According to the police, the blaze engulfed flats on the second, third and fourth floors of the building, prompting a large-scale rescue operation.
The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained.
"Around 10 to 15 people were rescued from the premises during the firefighting operation. Two of them, who sustained minor injuries, were shifted to the Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital," a senior police officer said.
A total of 12 fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the flames, while teams from the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), traffic police and local police assisted in the rescue and evacuation efforts.
Police said the fire was brought under control after several hours.
The identities of the deceased are yet to be ascertained, and efforts are underway to determine the cause of the fire, police said.
Further investigation and proceedings are underway.
