Tripura Assembly witnesses ruckus over minister’s social media post on Hindus & Hindu idols

The opening day of the Tripura Assembly on Wednesday witnessed a ruckus while the opposition Congress staged a walkout over the social media posts of state Minister Sudhangshu Das relating to Hindu temple attack and idol defacing.

During the reference period, the opposition Congress and the CPI-M MLAs raised the issue of the minister’s recent post on social media.

Congress MLAs – Sudip Roy Barman, Gopal Roy and Birajit Singh while arguing with the treasure bench members and ministers went to the well before walking out of the Assembly in protest.

Das, who holds the Welfare of Scheduled Caste and Animal Resource Development Departments, accused the Congress of being “anti-Hindu party”.

Without referring to any specific instance, in his September 1 Facebook post, which the minister subsequently removed, said: “In my view, the Hindus have no moral right to offer puja to Hindu gods and goddesses because those people who can’t protect their temples and gods, do not deserve to organise prayers or offer puja.”

Last month, unidentified “miscreants” defaced the idol at a local Kali temple at Koitorabari in West Tripura district.

After the defacing of the idol, unidentified assailants torched at least 16 houses, and burnt several vehicles and properties belonging to minorities in nearby areas, leaving four persons injured in the wake of the vandalism.

A large contingent of the Central Reserve Police Force, the Tripura State Rifles (TSR) and state police were deployed immediately at the areas and prohibitory orders were clamped in the entire mixed-populated Jirania Sub-Division under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).

Police also arrested five people in connection with the attacks and arson.

Former Minister and Congress MLA Birajit Sinha raising the issue in the house sought the minister’s statement and apology.

Sinha was supported by his party colleagues and Leader of Opposition Jitendra Chaudhury.

Terming the Minister’s social media posts as ‘hate speech’, former Minister Roy Barman criticised him and said: “A minister took an oath of office and secrecy as per the Constitutional mandate and he cannot make such a post in a public platform.”

Parliamentary Affairs and Law Minister Ratan Lal Nath, Food and Civil Supplies Minister Sushanta Chowdhury and other BJP MLAs defended Minister Sudhangshu Das.

Das due to the noisy scenes, however, could not complete his clarification in favour of his Facebook post.

Ruling BJP members during the arguments, referred to the series of incidents during the Partition of the country and since before the Independence of India, ‘Great Bengal Killing’, Noakhali Riots, Kashmiri pandits’ exodus from Jammu and Kashmir and attacks on minorities in Bangladesh and exodus of people from the then East Pakistan, now Bangladesh during and after 1971.

Assembly Speaker Biswa Bandhu Sen, however, rejected the opposition MLAs’ demand to seek an apology from Minister Sudhangshu Das.