By Firstdespatch Desk Sep 04, 2024
Agartala, Sept 4 (FD) Tripura Assembly today witnessed uproars by the opposition Congress as they protested against a face book post by the minister of animal resource department, Sudhangshu Das.
The opposition Congress MLAs demonstrated in the well of the assembly and staged a walkout after Das described the party as "anti-Hindu".
In the September 1 post the minister said, "In my view, the Hindus have no right to offer prayers to gods and goddesses because those people who can't protect their temples and gods, don't deserve to organise prayer or puja." Though he did not mention any context for the statement, it was posted days after an idol of the Goddess Kali was found defaced in a temple in the Durganagar area in West Tripura district. Following the incident, several houses were set on fire by unidentified miscreants on the night of August 25.
However, the minister deleted his post later.
Congress MLA Birajit Sinha raised the issue in the House today during the zero hour and sought a statement from Das.
Party legislator Sudip Roy Barman while condemning the post said, "A minister took oath swearing the Constitution cannot make such a post on the social media. India is guided by the Constitution. I exhort him to apologise for that." Food and Civil Supplies Minister Sushanta Chowdhury, who came to the rescue of Das from the opposition's attack, said the people have seen the post on Facebook.
"Following repentance, he (Sudhangshu) withdrew the post. The members of the House must understand the feelings of the minister who made the post.
"There has been no instance in Tripura where minority people are subjected to face oppression. The government is working for 'Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas'. But it is Congress which had made a member of 'tukde tukde' gang candidate from New Delhi constituency," he said, without naming Kanhaiya Kumar.
During a debate on the issue, Das said thousands of Hindus were uprooted during the 1971 war.
"As many as 6 lakh Kashmiri pandits were driven out of Jammu & Kashmir and the man who was behind the move was awarded by the former Prime Minister," he said triggering strong protests from the Congress.
In protest, the three Congress MLAs walked out of the House for ten minutes. Although CPI(M) MLAs were protesting the minister's statement, they remained in the House.
As the minister continued his attack on the opposition especially Congress by branding them anti-Hindu, the opposition members rushed to the well and started giving slogans.
However, the Speaker did not pay heed to the opposition's protests and went on with the scheduled business. FD JK