Condemning the brutal murder of television journalist, Santanu Bhowmick, CPI (M)’s Polit Bureau on Thursday blamed BJP-backed miscreants for the incident.
Mr. Bhowmick was hacked to death on Wednesday when clashes broke out between CPI (M)’s Tribal wing Tripura Upajati Gan Mukti Parishad workers and the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura. He was covering the agitation organised by the IPFT when he was hit from behind.
Four IPFT men have been arrested for the murder.
The BJP blamed CPI (M) workers for the murder. Assam Minister and BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma in a tweet on Thursday said, “I highly condemn brutal killing of young Tripura TV journalist Santanu Bhowmick. Shri Manik Sarkar’s CPI (M) government has much to answer.”
In a counter, the CPI (M)’s official twitter handle put out a letter reportedly written by BJP’s State treasurer, Sujit Banerjee. The letter said ₹2 lakh was handed over to the IPFT on instruction from central leadership.
The CPI (M) Polit Bureau said in a statement that there was a pattern to these killings. “On the heels of the murder of Gauri Lankesh has come yet another killing of a progressive journalist. There is a clear pattern in this employed by the RSS-BJP particularly in the states were elections are due of silencing progressive journalists and the dissemination of truth to the people,” the PB said.
