Bandh called by IPFT cripples life in Tripura's Khumulwng

Normal life was paralysed in Khumulwng, the headquarters of the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC), on Thursday, in response to a 24-hour bandh called by the Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT), an ally of the ruling BJP, to protest against the arrest of a party leader.

Normal life was paralyzed in Khumulwng, the headquarters of the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC), on Thursday, in response to a 24-hour bandh called by the Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT), an ally of the ruling BJP, to protest against the arrest of a party leader. Vehicles remained off the roads, markets and shops were closed while government offices, banks, and financial establishments were shut, police said.

The TTAADC constitutes two-third of the states territory and home to tribals, who form one-third of the state population. IPFT Assistant General Secretary Mangal Debbarma claimed that the police "arbitrarily" arrested party leader Pradip Debbarma in "framed charges" which were non-bailable.

There is a conspiracy of the BJP behind his arrest on non-bailable charges, he alleged. A BJP party office in the area was set on fire by a group of people on July 1 and Pradip Debbarma was arrested in that connection, police said.

"Pradip is innocent. BJP leveled false charges against him. Though we fought the 2018 Assembly elections in alliance with the BJP, the relation with the party is not smooth now," Mangal Debbarma said. When contacted, BJP spokesperson Nabendu Bhattacharya said, "We have not named Pradip Debbarma in the complaint. If the police found his involvement during investigation in the case of arson and arrest him, we have nothing to do. We also do not believe in the politics of bandh or strike." In the 60-member assembly, the BJP has 36 seats and IPFT has eight. The opposition CPI-M has 16 MLAs.