Tripura polls: Brinda Karat condemns BJP's alliance with IPFT, alleges party aiming to win election by terror

Agartala: The BJP had become “indirectly” responsible for journalist Santanu Bhowmik’s death after entering into an alliance with the IPFT as the scribe was allegedly hacked to death by the members of the tribal party, CPM politburo member Brinda Karat said on Sunday. Bhowmik (28), a correspondent of local TV channel “Dinrat”, was allegedly beaten to death on 20 September last year when he had gone to Mandai, near the Patnibazar area, to cover an agitation by the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT). [caption id=“attachment_3824221” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Brinda Karat. AFP[/caption] Four activists of the tribal party were arrested the day after in connection with incidents of violence and Bhowmik’s killing. “The BJP is now indirectly involved in the killing because it has forged an alliance with the IPFT, which was responsible for Bhowmik’s killing,” Karat said at a poll rally at Patnibazar, 30 kilometres from Agartala. Tripura is set to go to the polls on 18 February and the results will be declared on 3 March. The saffron party was aiming to win the upcoming polls by terror, Karat alleged and appealed to the voters of the state to defeat the BJP-IPFT alliance. Attacking the IPFT over its demand for a separate state of “Twipraland”, the Left leader alleged that the party had plans to divide the state. “The BJP, RSS and its Hindutva affiliates were involved in attacks on adivasi communities and persecution of Christians in the name of ‘ghar-wapsi’ in different parts of the country,” she said. Karat also claimed that there was not even one instance of communal attacks during the CPM-led government’s rule in the north-eastern state in the last 20 years. “The election is not just important for the state, but also for the country as it will decide the course of development, peace and integrity,” she said.