“Due to criminalization of politics, ethnic violence and other uncountable crimes have been increasing across Tripura during the last 6 years' misrule of BJP-led government in the Tripura,” said Leader of Opposition (LoP) and CPI (M) state secretary Jitendra Chaudhury.

Addressing a press conference at party headquarters in Agartala on Friday afternoon, Chaudhury accompanied by other party MLAs and leaders highlighted their visit to violence affected Gandacherra subdivision on Thursday, where violence between two communities claimed a life and over 300 villagers were forced to take shelter in the relief camps.

The CPI (M) delegation was led by Leader of Opposition Jitendra Chaudhury along with MLAs Ramu Das, Nayan Sarkar and Sudip Sarkar  and senior party leaders Naresh Jamatia, Sudhan Das and Lalit Tripura first visited the house of Parameshwar Reang (20), a tribal student, succumbed to his injuries on July 12 after being assaulted by some miscreants on July 7. They also met members of the victim's family and expressed condolences.

Chaudhury demanded stringent legal action against all assailants responsible for the killing of young Parameshwar Reang.

CPIM) team violence affected areas of Bish Card, Chai Card, Sath Card, 33-KV, Durgapur, Narayanpur, Pichilighat villages, where over 40 houses, more than 30 shops, huge number of properties, vehicles and two-wheelers were either burnt down or severely damaged by the attackers in Ganda Twisa on July 12 after Parameshwar Reang  succumbed to his injuries . They also visited relief camps and spoke to all victim families. Over 400 men, women and children belonging to 165 families are still sheltered in a special camp since the ethnic violence broke out.

Till today, some affected family members are now staying at the Gandatwisa Higher Secondary School while trade and business are severely affected in the areas for the past few days, said Chaudhury.

Chaudhury, after visiting all violence affected areas, strongly criticized the state government and claimed that victim families are still in trauma and they are being deprived of their basic rights.

Detailing the visit of the delegation to the violence-hit Gandacherra ( Ganda Twisa), the LoP demanded impartial investigation of the violence by constituting a Special Investigating Team (SIT) led by a senior-ranking police officer.

"After the unfortunate death of Parameshwar Reang, ill-motivated perpetrators involving some innocent people in a pre-planned manner undertook large-scale attacks, arson, and looting. The attackers did not even spare the hundreds of cattles," the Left leader told the media and demanded a visit by Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha in the violence-hit Gandacherra.

Chaudhury claimed that the state administration did not take any steps to facilitate the return of the affected people to their villages and did not provide basic assistance to the hapless people sheltered in the relief camp.

He said that "due to criminalization of politics by the ruling BJP and non-punishment to the accused persons, ethnic violence to varied crimes and misdeeds have been taking place since 2018 in Tripura".

"Without taking action against the criminals and attackers, the police are arresting the victims and that is unprecedented in the entire country. Lawlessness increased to a large extent due to the misgovernance of the BJP government. Taking advantage of the situation, criminals recently murdered the secretary of a prominent club in the outskirts of the city," Chaudhury said.

The Tripura Human Rights Commission (THRC) also expressed shock and dismay over the ethnic violence in Ganda Twisa and served notice to the Director General of Police and the District Magistrate of Dhalai district, officials said.

The three-member rights panel, headed by Swapan Chandra Das, retired Tripura High Court judge, said that inaction or negligence on the part of public servants in preventing the commission of a violation of human rights is also actionable and, therefore, the notices are issued to submit the preliminary report within three weeks for further course of action.

The Tripura government has recently sanctioned Rs 6 lakh in favour of Kharagaram Reang, father of Parameshwar Reang while Rs 1.54 crore has been sanctioned for providing financial assistance to 165 affected families.

Immediately after the violence, financial assistance of Rs 25,000 was given to each of the affected families as interim relief by the district administration, an official said.