Agartala: Tripura Congress MLA and CWC member Sudip Roy Barman on Saturday told police personnel to let a bulldozer loose on him, but said he would not allow the police and Agartala Municipal Corporation to disrupt the Congress party’s pre-scheduled event in Agartala.
According to Congress sources, the party had obtained permission from the police to install a large screen in front of Agartala City Centre, where Rahul Gandhi‘s speech at the ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ event being held in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, would be telecast live.
The political programme was being organised jointly by the Tripura Pradesh Youth Congress and NSUI. Congress leaders claimed that hours before the main event, the Agartala Municipal Corporation (AMC) and police obstructed Congress workers who were preparing for the programme.
The police informed the Congress activists that prior permission from the Agartala Municipal Corporation was required to install such screens on temporary structures. Preparations at the venue were suspended for some time until Congress leader Sudip Roy Barman arrived at the site.
Roy Barman and police and AMC officials had a heated exchange.
“This is a temporary structure which shall be dismantled as soon as the event concludes. The necessary police permission was obtained the way we obtain permissions for other events. All of a sudden, you are asking for another permission. Do the party in power obtain these permissions beforehand?” Roy Barman asked the AMC officials.
He told the police officials that the programme would be carried out as scheduled. “We will conduct this programme as per schedule. If we are violating any law, register cases against us and if required bring the bulldozer, let it loose on us,” he told the police officials.