BJP-called shutdown hits life in Tripura district

Agartala: Normal life was affected in Tripura's Dhalai district on Wednesday due to a 12-hour shutdown called by the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in protest against the killing of one of its local leaders.

Police said more than 200 activists of the BJP were arrested for picketing in front of government offices and markets during the dawn-to-dusk strike.

"Most shops and markets were closed and attendance in the government offices and banks was less. Most schools and educational institutions in the Dhalai district were closed," a police official said.

However, movement of traffic on National Highway-8 (previously NH 44), the lifeline of Tripura, was normal.

BJP leaders alleged that the party's Yuva Morcha leader, Chan Mohan Tripura, had gone to see a mentally disturbed man, Biswada Tripura, in the latter's home at Gandachara in Dhalai district on Monday night. 

Biswada hit Chan Mohan with a wooden article killing him on the spot.

Police have arrested the accused.

A BJP delegation led by the party's state Vice-President Subal Bhowmik visited the tension-ridden areas and alleged that the members of the ruling CPI-M (Communist Party of India-Marxist) were behind the incident.

The CPI-M in a statement said that the BJP is doing politics over a non-political incident.

"BJP is trying to make an issue over this killing though everybody is aware that the mentally sick man killed Chan Mohan," the statement said and urged the people to foil the BJP-sponsored shutdown.