Tripura riots: Congress forms eight-member probe panel

Congress has formed an eight-member fact-finding committee to probe the Tripura violence that shook the state and the nation.

Anti-Muslim violence gripped Tripura after RSS affiliate VHP took out Hunkar Rally on Tuesday.

The fact-finding committee will submit its report to Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

“On the recent communal Tripura riots, a fact-finding committee has been set up, which will visit the communal hotspots and submit a detailed report within 5 days to the Congress president Sonia Gandhi,” said Ajoy Kumar, Congress in-charge of the North Eastern state.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday slammed the BJP government, saying how long it will pretend to be deaf. In an apparent reference to VHP, Rahul said those attacking Muslims in Tripura are not Hindus but pretenders.

In a so-called ‘retaliation to the violence against Hindus in Bangladesh’, as many as 16 mosques, various shops, and properties belonging to the Muslim community were set on fire or vandalized in Tripura.

Videos and photographs emerging from social media suggest that the violence erupted after Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) – an RSS affiliate – took out a ‘Hunkar Rally’ in support of Bangladesh Hindus in the tiny hill state on Tuesday.

NH had reported how violence erupted in North Tripura’s Panisagar area which later spread to other parts of the state after the VHP rally.

Some shared the video on Twitter on Friday, blaming the BJP for orchestrating riots and violence against the Muslims.

Though the BJP government has claimed that normalcy has returned, some independent journalists claimed the situation still remains tense.

Apart from Panisagar of North Tripura, Maharani Kakraban Udaipur of Gomti District, Chandrapur, and Ramnagar of West Tripura District, and Kailashahar of Unkoti District were affected.

Social activists and independent journalists alleged that Tripura police did not act against the culprits. TDF leader had also urged the Bangladesh High Commissioner to provide complete protection to Hindus and their properties in Bangladesh.

Pertinently, over 400 people have been arrested in Bangladesh in connection with the violence against Hindus, but no arrest has been made in Tripura so far by the ruling BJP.