The CPIM on Monday protested the Khowai district administration’s decision to remove the statue of Tripura’s iconic leader and former CM Nripen Chakraborty from the Subhash Park in Khowai.
The now dissolved Khowai municipal council had decided to install the statue of Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar in its place.
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The tenure of the municipal council ended on December 20 last year and the state government appointed the Khowai sub-divisional magistrate as the administrator of the council till new members are elected.
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The decision has also sparked an outrage among the public and in political circles of the state.
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The area where the statue of the Tripuri leader is installed is known as the Nripen Chakraborty Avenue.
Former Tripura CM Manik Sarkar had inaugurated the statue in January 2010 and it was installed by the Khowai municipal council.
Khowai CPIM MLA Nirmal Biswas strongly, “Nripen Chakraborty was not only a communist leader, but also a freedom fighter and spend many years in jail during the freedom struggle of India.”
“Everybody in Tripura knows about the contribution of Nripen Chakraborty who served the state as a chief minister for a decade. We also respect Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, but his statue can be installed in some other prominent place,” he said.
Administrator of the Khowai municipal council, Asit Das said, “The move to remove the statue of Nripen Chakraborty had been made on the basis of a decision taken passed by members of the now dissolved municipal council,”
After the BJP state government had come to power in 2018, the statues of several communist leaders including Lanin were vandalized and dismantled across the state, leading to wide protests.