Agartala: Tripura government’s decision to rename Agartala Town Hall after Jana Sangh founder SP Mookerjee stirred a fresh controversy with principal opposition CPIM and ruling ally Tipra Motha openly criticising the move.
Leader of the Opposition and CPIM Politburo member Jitendra Chaudhury on Sunday criticised the state government’s decision to rename Agartala Town Hall after Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, founder of the Jana Sangh—the ideological forerunner of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha had earlier announced the renaming while addressing an event marking the 125th birth anniversary of Dr Mukherjee. He also revealed plans to install a life-size statue of the Jana Sangh founder within the Town Hall premises.
Voicing strong opposition, the senior CPIM leader said, “Agartala Town Hall is an infrastructure built 40 years ago. It was inaugurated by then Vice President of the country, Venkat Raman. A town hall is traditionally regarded as a symbol of a city’s legacy. In all major cities across the world, town halls are named after the cities they represent. This move, in fact, fails to do justice even to the stature of Dr Mukherjee.”
Instead, Chaudhury urged the government to construct a new facility in honour of Dr Mukherjee. “Agartala is a growing city, and there is often a shortage of public auditoriums or halls for events. If the government truly wishes to pay tribute, it can build a new, modern complex dedicated to his memory. We are not against everything being named after Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, but I would sincerely urge the government to reconsider this decision,” he added.
Meanwhile, Tipra Motha MLA Ranjit Debbarma also opposed the move and stated that the city’s historical legacy should not be hampered.
“The Town Hall is today standing in the place of ‘Lal Mahal’, an integral part of the royal palace. The CPIM government demolished the royal era palace to construct the Town Hall. Now the Town Hall is being renamed after Dr SP Mookerjee. If the government wants to do something in the name of SP Mookerjee, it should undertake construction of a new auditorium,” said Debbarma on Monday.
The MLA made an appeal to the Chief Minister to rethink.
Expressing his sharp discontent, Debbarma alleged that for decades attempts had been made to erase the contribution of the royal family in Tripura’s development and growth.
“The Darbar Hall of the royal era has been converted into Sukanta Academy. The Victoria Memorial hospital is renamed after IGM hospital. I would like to thank former CM Biplab Kumar Deb for renaming Baramura hills into Hatai Kotor and Gandacherra as Ganda Tuissa. He also made efforts to make sure that Agartala airport gets the name of Maharaja Bir Bikram,” said Debbarma.
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