Late Tuesday night, news from Tripura went viral: the house of ex-CM and Rajya Sabha MP Biplab Deb had been set on fire. Ever ready to jump to ‘break’ news sans any concern about confirmation, media houses from across the nation jumped onto it. TimesNow, IndiaTv, Free Press Journal, and India.com all repeated the nearly-same narrative. Not one story had an official quote. The only common theme? The CPIM cadre vandalised the house. IndiaTv went a step further and blamed a ‘particular community’.
So what happened? Was his house burned down?
Turns out, it was not.
Actual news or WhatsApp forward?
All the reports above were based on a message widely circulated among media persons, alleging that Deb’s residence, where arrangements were underway for the annual rites of his father Hirudhan Deb, came under attack.
The alleged ‘press statement’ claimed that CPIM MLA Ratan Bhowmik had addressed a party meeting at Jamjuri Bazar under the Gomati District of Tripura. Deb’s ancestral home is located very close to the market.
According to the statement, miscreants backed by CPIM launched the attack and indulged in vandalism and arson. A few shops were set afire and Deb’s ancestral home was also ransacked.
Who issued this press release? Turns out, a person who works for Deb sent a message en masse in Bengali via WhatsApp to several reporters, claiming all the above, and of course, the media jumped onto it without confirming anything in the release.
And the burning image? That was of a shop near the house, but not of the alleged ancestral property. No media house clarified that.
The communal angle
People present at the spot claimed several religious people had gathered for the annual rituals and those who had attacked them were from other faiths. Jitender Kaushik, who identified himself as a practising Supreme Court lawyer, told media persons that a Muslim mob attacked them.
“I reached Tripura to visit the shrine of Mata Tripura Sundari. Our Gurudev was about to come here to perform religious rituals. We have been sent here to oversee the arrangements. All of a sudden, a mob of Muslims came here and started attacking. Sensing trouble, we left the car and ran away. The mob then started pelting stones at my car,” Kaushik said in a video.
Right-wing media turned this statement into a story that Muslims backed by the CPIM were attacking Hindus in Tripura. Yatendra Sharma, News18 Associate Editor, also tweeted, saying, “Attack by Muslims on the ancestral home of Biplab Deb, house burnt.”
Interestingly, during this entire episode, Biplab Deb did not tweet anything about the incident claiming his house was on fire. Then, on Wednesday afternoon, the former CM claimed in an interview that his house was indeed burnt down. The Tripura Police, however, disagrees with Deb’s statements.
What did Biplab Deb say?
In an exclusive interview to Republic on the alleged attack on his ancestral house, Rajya Sabha member and BJP leader Biplab Deb said: “I had called the priests for my father’s death anniversary and my wife went to Agartala to take stock of the preparations. At the same time, the communist leaders provoked people in that area and carried out marches in the daytime.”
“In the evening, in front of my house where the event was supposed to take place, the communists wanted to hoist the flag. When they were trying to hoist the flag, the priests and others tried to stop them saying Hawan will take place here. They did not agree to this and started the violence. They damaged the vehicles and started beating people. They also damaged the vehicle of a priest…”
The former CM claimed that a group of 50-60 people created chaos at his ancestral house. “A group of 50-60 came and did whatever they wanted to. The communist have done similar things in the entire country. They want to do politics by provoking people of a certain community… This is unfortunate.”
What did Tripura Police say?
The Superintendent of Police, Gomati District, shared a written statement with EastMojo, where the police have rejected the communal angle.
“Some reports have appeared in the media that this incident took place in the house of senior political functionaries and there is a communal angle to it. It is clarified that these reports are false and are not based on facts. Necessary police deployment has been done. Situation is under control and a sharp watch is being maintained,” the police statement reads.
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The SP also informed that one person has been arrested while seven persons have been detained for interrogation in connection with the two FIRs registered with the police.
Just another day of political violence in Tripura
In yet another instance of political violence in Tripura, two persons were injured as BJP and CPI (M) supporters clashed near the ancestral house of former Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb in Gomati district.
The police registered a suo motu case and started an investigation into the incident, while a villager also lodged a complaint, alleging that the CPI (M)-backed miscreants attacked BJP supporters.
“The situation is now under control, and one person has been arrested. The investigation is on,” the SDPO said.
A four-day yagna on the death anniversary of Deb’s father at their ancestral house at Jamjuri was to begin on Wednesday.
BJP activists decorated the house and the surrounding area, while a group of CPI(M) supporters also put up party flags for their programme there.
“Some of CPI(M) flags were allegedly found torn and thrown away, following which the clash broke out near the ancestral house of Deb.
“One vehicle owned by a guest of Deb was allegedly torched by the CPI(M) supporters during the clash and two BJP activists suffered injuries,” the SDPO told Press Trust of India.
Following this, angry BJP activists set four shops of CPI(M) workers in the village on fire, he said.
Security forces were rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control, he said, adding that police personnel have been deployed there to maintain peace.
(With PTI inputs)
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