Agartala, September 19: The TIPRA Motha Party on Friday approached the Tripura State Election Commission (SEC) alleging that a purportedly doctored video was being circulated on social media with the aim of creating communal tension and damaging the party’s image ahead of the September 28 Village Committee elections.
A five-member delegation led by TTAADC member and TIPRA Motha’s Youth Tipra Federation (YTF) president Suraj Debbarma submitted a complaint to SEC Secretary Anurag Sen.
The complaint, signed by TIPRA Motha general secretary and Minister of State Brishaketu Debbarma, alleged that the said video was fabricated by combining visuals from a peaceful party campaign march with an audio clip taken from an unrelated protest.
The party claimed that provocative slogans targeting particular communities had been superimposed on its campaign footage and asserted that no such slogans had been raised at any programme organised by TIPRA Motha.
Speaking after meeting the SEC officials, Debbarma alleged that candidates and supporters of various political parties had been sharing the video despite its potential to create tension between Chakma and Tripuri communities.
“We have clearly seen that they have taken the audio clips and fixed those audio clips in our party slogans,” he said, adding that the matter had been raised with the election authorities as a violation of the Model Code of Conduct.
Debbarma said the issue was particularly serious with the village polls approaching and alleged that attempts were being made to undermine the party by creating divisions among indigenous communities.
He also said the allegation should not be viewed only through the prism of conventional party politics, asserting that TIPRA Motha’s political message centred on “Thansa”, or unity.
Debbarma alleged that such attempts could involve supporters of the Congress, CPI(M), BJP or IPFT, without providing specific evidence against any particular party or candidate.
The development comes amid an alliance between the BJP, TIPRA Motha and IPFT for the Village Committee elections, making the allegation politically significant.
SEC Secretary Anurag Sen confirmed that the commission had received the complaint and said the allegations would be examined.
“The complaint is regarding circulation of a video in social media, which they are claiming is a fabricated video, and the audio … is copied from some other older video,” Sen said.
He said the commission had taken note of the complaint and that the State Election Commissioner had been apprised of the matter.
“We’ll be enquiring into the matter. Our authorities will be engaged to enquire into the matter, and whatever outcome we are getting out of it, we’ll definitely be taking action on it,” Sen said.
The TIPRA Motha complaint sought an immediate investigation into those responsible for creating and circulating the video, action through law-enforcement and cyber-crime authorities, and a public warning against dissemination of fake media aimed at provoking communal disharmony during the election period.
