Terming the Wednesday’s death of the television journalist at Mandai in Tripura as unfortunate, the Indigenous Peoples’ Front of Tripura (IPFT) on Friday said that there is a conspiracy by the ruling communist party to tarnish the image of the IPFT, particularly ahead of the polls scheduled next year.
The IPFT’s statement on Friday assumed significance in view of the recent revelation that the slain journalist was a member of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), a leftist student organisation and that he had links with the communist party.
“The ruling CPI (M) is scared as it has been losing ground in tribal areas. They have failed to initiate development in the tribal areas of the state and are scared now. The death of the journalist is condemnable and we also want a impartial probe into the death,” said IPFT general secretary, Mewar Kumar Jamatia.
Jamatia, however, said that it is a planned conspiracy hatched by the ruling party to tarnish the image of the IPFT by involving its name with the death of the journalist. “We demand an impartial probe into the death of the journalist preferably by the CBI,” he said. It may be mentioned here that Mandai, located in Jirania subdivision of Tripura West district, had witnessed violent clashes between the supporters of IPFT- TRUGP on Wednesday leading to death of Television journalist Shantanu Bhowmik (28).
The IPFT claimed the CPI(M) has been planning the violence since July this year when over 5,000 indigenous families left TRUGP to join IPFT after a highway blockade to press for Twipraland state. The IPFT, which broke away from a Congress-aligned tribal political party, has recently revived the demand for statehood for the 19 indigenous tribes of Tripura by upgrading the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC).
CPI(M) state secretary Bijan Dhar, however, said that although the slain journalist Shantanu had a communist background during his student life yet he was a journalist who was killed on duty and that his murder should not be treated as that of party member.