Did CPI(M) pull down Rajiv Gandhi’s statue in Tripura?

A 'golden' Lenin being toppled by a bulldozer. People cheer. A lone voice calls out “Bharat Mata ki….” The video went viral on social media. Media reports later confirmed that it happened on March 5, at Belonia town in southern Tripura. The fibre-glass statue was reportedly erected after the CPI(M) won the 2013 assembly polls. The driver of the bulldozer was arrested for vandalism, and BJP supporters blockaded the police station seeking his release. 

The issue would have died down slowly, but the comments of Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy took the controversy to a new level. “What one democratically elected government can do, another democratically elected government can undo. And, vice versa,” Roy tweeted.

The Hindu, in its report on the Governor's comment, said: “Mr. Roy is believed to have referred to instances of statues of leaders iconic to other parties demolished or defiled in the past. They include those of Rajiv Gandhi immediately after the Left Front won the elections in 2008.”

The CPI(M)’s netizens, however, denied that the party had done any such thing, setting of a virtual battle.

THE WEEK checked with Congress sources in Tripura if this had indeed happened, and Birajit Sinha, party's state president, had this to say: "I am not supporting the BJP. But, the same goons were with the CPI(M) [in 2003 and 2008]. They torched our houses, broke into and ransacked our party supporters’ homes and party offices. They tortured us more than the BJP did. Our fault was that we had won 19 seats in 2003.”

Asked specifically about statues, he said: "Statues are not lives. They finished lives. I forget whether Rajiv’s or Indira’s statues were pulled down. Because we had to save our lives then.”

However, Siraj Ali, chief of the BJP’s minority cell in Tripura, said that the CPI(M) had indeed defaced statues of Congress leaders. Sources, who wished to remain anonymous, claimed that these incidents had happened in Agartala, Barjala and Udaipur.