The North Eastern state of Tripura which is one of the last communist bastions in India went to polls on Sunday. The run-up to the polls was marred by violent incidents which included, targeted attacks against the cadre of the BJP, a party which is trying to make serious inroads during the elections.
As reported, BJP supporters were allegedly attacked by at least 15 CPI(M) members in Chakmanghat area of Teliamura constituency. Before that the body of a BJP booth president was recovered from Barjala, Tripura on Sunday, merely days ahead of the polls. According to BJP’s Sunil Deodhar, who has been made in-charge of the state, this was the 11th Tripura BJP activist, killed in the last 13 months.
Such political allegiances have also resulted in religious persecution, with about 25 Muslim families in a Tripura village getting boycotted by their local mosque for deciding to support the BJP.
Now to print an even grimmer picture about the political freedom in the state, a DNA report has claimed that a Tripura woman was raped and assaulted for daring to leave the CPM. As reported, the victim on March 26, 2016, was heading home in the evening, when she was held by a goon who started to brutally assault her. Soon after when she started to lose consciousness he even allegedly raped her.
Come 2018, the victim still carries the scars of that horrid evening and has lost eyesight in her left eye. As per her, she was meted out this treatment because she switched over to the BJP after being a CPM worker for many years.
Incidentally, such brutal tactics against those ‘daring’ to leave the CPM have also been employed in another communist-ruled state of Kerala.
A few days ago a class XI daughter of a BJP leader in Kerala, Kasaragod district had sent out a help plea on Facebook to save her father who was getting death threats from the CPM. As per the daughter, the CPM cadre was miffed with her father because of his decision to join the BJP.