AGARTALA:
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Sambhu Lal Chakma, on March 22, raised a demand to close down all madrasas in the state.
The Chawmanu MLA, while addressing the House on the third day of the ongoing budget session, claimed that as long as madrasas are running in the state, attempts to “mislead and misguide” the house will continue in Tripura.
Citing the example of Assam and how state-run madrasas were closed down in the neighbouring state, he said that the same needs to be done in Tripura.
Chakma’s statement came after opposition Communist Party of India- Marxist (CPIM) legislator, Islam Uddin, during a deliberation in the House, highlighted the purported communal violence in Panisagar sub-division in North district on October 26, 2021 claiming that the incident, in which a mosque too was allegedly attached, sowed seeds of division between the peacefully co-existing communities.
Responding to the CPIM MLA from Kadamtala constituency, Chakma said, “We are representing the biggest political party of Tripura (which is BJP) and our party treated all religions equally. I feel no religion should get an extra benefit from the state government. The madrasas should be shut down the way Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sharma did.”
He also urged chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb to take similar “action” against madrasas.
Slamming Uddin, BJP MLA from Panisagar Assembly Constituency of Tripura’s North district, Binay Bhusan Das claimed that not a single mosque was attacked during the October 2021 flare-up.
Chakma also alleged that the opposition MLA tried to mislead the holy House by making false statements. “If madrasas continue to function in the state, such attempts to mislead the assembly House shall also continue simultaneously.”