'No Mosques Burnt, No Person Died': Biplab Kumar Deb Says Tripura Violence Sorted in Very Short Time

Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb said that during the recent violence in Tripura, no mosques were burnt and not a single person died while the issue was sorted out in a very short time. In October, there were alleged incidents of violence in Tripura following communal violence in Bangladesh during Durga Puja.

The Chief Minister said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, North-eastern states are benefitting financially and culturally. He added that the work done by the previous governments in 50 years, have been done by the BJP government in four years.

As Tripura completes its 50 years of its statehood, Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb in an exclusive interview to CNN-News18 talked about a range of issues including development, vaccination, recent violence and the challenge of TMC in the upcoming elections in the state.

Here are the edited excerpts from the interview:

This year marks the 50th year of Tripura foundation. PM Modi has undertaken a lot of development work in the entire Northeast region and there seems to be a lot of co-ordination among the northeast states. Can you elaborate how Tripura has gained?

Under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi, all the northeastern states are connected to each other. Except one or two states, our geographical boundaries are very small. Under PM Modi’s leadership, northeastern states are benefitting financially and culturally. You must have seen that the different insurgent groups who once existed are now on the verge of extinction. The kind of work that the previous government has done in 50 years of Tripura, we have got the chance to work for four years. In those four years, we have worked towards employment, women empowerment, tourism, infrastructure.

Moreover, the announcement that the Prime Minister made before 2018 election to give ‘HIRA’ (Highways, Internet, Railways & Airways) Model to Tripura, that has also been delivered in two years. There was a time when projects of not more 1200 crores used to be carried out, now construction of highways worth 11,000 crores are underway. We have a high-speed broadband internet gateway in Tripura. In Railways, from Rajdhani express to Kisan train to Demo Train, Humsafar Express, Tripura Sundari Express a first-time Tripura to Manipur train, Janshatabdi Express, have been given to the Tripura by Prime Minister. And lastly, in term of airways, Tripura has the most beautiful and advance airport in northeast. The Agartala airport is the busiest after the Guwahati Airport, two direct flights from Delhi to Agartala come here, while once due to lack of passengers, we had to go via Kolkata.

Last October Tripura was on edge. The attack on Bangladesh Hindus during Durga Puja provoked a backlash in Tripura where places of Muslim worship were desecrated and there was communal violence where we saw Supreme Court intervening after political violence? How did the situation go so out of control?

I told you about what happened in our neighbouring country Bangladesh. Nobody supports such events, no matter where it happens. So, a reaction in Tripura is very natural as the state is surrounded by Bangladesh and has a cordial relation with the people in Bangladesh. It happened here, people protested, but not a single Muslim lost his life and no mosque was burnt. At that time, Tripura was maligned as if all the mosques in Tripura have been burnt down, as if thousands of Muslims have been thrown out of their homes, have been killed, but in reality, nothing of that sort happened. We sorted it out in a very short time.

But the way Tripura was maligned, nothing like that happened. And some of our journalist friends and advocates who came to Tripura to handle the case given by the Tripura police, they didn’t have the idea of what was going on in Tripura. They saw it on social media and they came. That’s why they were stopped but no misbehaviour was done with them. Later, I personally asked DGP to review the cases against them. Yes, we registered the cases at that time, but later after reviewing, we released them.

Detention of two women journalists were severely criticized and finally SC stayed criminal proceedings against them. Another such case in being currently heard by the Supreme Court. Why is your government so sensitive to adverse criticism and what explains the crackdown?

Don’t take it as an issue ‘against journalist’. I also work with many journalists. It helps me. How will we go to public without media? But when in a state, a law and order situation arises, the first duty of the government is to stop that. The journalist sisters who came here to report, shared it on social media that this has happened. But in reality, neither mosque nor Quran was burnt.

To handle such issues are extremely difficult as they are very sensitive cases. It was because of the blessings of the Lord and guidance of PM Modi that we came out of it successfully or else so many people would have stuck into it.

Your party won a resounding victory winning 329 of the 334 urban civic seats in the recently held civic polls despite the loss in Tripura Tribal Area Autonomous District Council elections in early 2021. The civic poll victory denied TMC to gain foothold or make any inroads in your state. How do you see the challenge posed by TMC?

I would like to tell you this first, in civic polls, our Muslim brothers have become vice-chairman in local bodies and they have emerged victorious. Nobody from Communist and TMC could win who campaigned a lot. This proves that they are with us. We don’t run Tripura state like that and this has been proven in civic polls.

And about the political situation in the near future, elections are conducted in two-party systems in Tripura. Every state has different political analysis. You can look at the history of Tripura, people don’t give vote to the third party. Today, our main opposition is Communist party that has 16 seats. Now what will be their situation in 2023, you will get to know. Their vote percentage declined not only in civic polls but also in Lok Sabha elections, in by-elections. They didn’t get a single seat in ADC. As far as TMC is concerned, there is a two-party system in Tripura. Either Communist will be there or TMC will be there.

Is the Left still your biggest opposition in Tripura? Or do you think Mamata’s popularity and her aggressive style of politics will play a role in the next assembly elections?

People of Tripura make decisions very thoughtfully. They work peacefully. That’s why they have a lot of dignity. They are not aggressive. Those who don’t follow the rules, people of Tripura don’t support them. Communists were also able to rule here for so long because people here function in a proper way.

Congress used to be the opposition but it didn’t have any system so it was not able to win here. Congress couldn’t go from 42% to 44% whereas BJP started from 1.5% and came into power. People showed trust in Narendra Modi due to which a common man like me became the Chief Minister.

You also have the health portfolio. Are you satisfied with the pace of vaccination in the state?

I am fully satisfied because 99.65% of the population here has been administered with the first dose of vaccine and 83% with second dose. Around 58% of children between the age 15-17 have got their first dose. Therefore, we have almost reached our set target and the death rate in Tripura is also very low below 1%.

You have often been in the headline for your controversial comments. One such instance was when you courted controversy by saying govt officials need not worry about contempt of court as you controlled police and so nobody can send them to jail. What makes you shoot from the hip?

People learn while working. Similarly, I also try to bring out best results while working. With time, people learn everything. Changing yourself with time is known as maturity.

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