The tension was palpable as soon as the results trend showed victory of Congress leader Sudip Roy Barman. A group of his supporters who gathered behind the barricade in IGM Choumuhani were heard raising highly provocative slogans. The BJP supporters were also standing not very far and as the provocative utterings from the Congress supporters were being circulated via social media , the mercury raised proportionately in the BJP camps. And as soon as the counting ended both the Congress and BJP activists came face to face and sweeping violence rocked the city.
While the motorbike borne gangs of the ruling BJP had of late become a serious menace with creating troubles and violence with a drop of a hat this time, however, it was the Congress supporters who instigated the violence for the first. Upbeat at the victory of the Sudip Roy Barman they were already in an aggressive mood and that ultimately boiled down to an attack on a BJP woman councilor and some other saffron workers.
The assault on the BJP workers when made known it took only minutes for hundreds of BJP workers suitably armed with lathis and other weapons to rush to Post Office Choumuhani and launched a massive attack on the Congress Bhawan. They smashed several motorbikes and even attempted to storm into the Congress Bhawan in search of the Congress workers. Though the West Agartala Police station was just some meters away and in front of the Congress Bhawan, police virtually failed to tackle the violent BJP workers.
In the meantime, several senior BJP leaders including Minister Ratan Lal Nath squarely blamed the Congress and newly elected MLA Sudip Roy Barman for instigating violence. They wanted to trigger reactions among the BJP workers so that a law and order situation was created, alleged the BJP leaders.
Nath claimed that some drugs dealers were taking shelter in the Congress bhawan and he asked the police to flush them out and arrest.
Rajib Bhattacharjee, Papiya Datta, AMC Mayor Dipak Majumdar et al also met SP West J Reddy to lodge complaint.
On the otherhand Roy Barman in a press conference alleged that the BJP was trying to create a one-party ruler and kill the democracy in the state.
“The BJP is worried at my victory and they have resorted to unprecedented post poll violence. They were killing the democracy and trying to undermine the voice of the people which has gone against them”, Roy Barman said.
Her also appealed to Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha to bring back peace immediately. Roy Barman was also critical of the police role.
