What made Tripura singe in communal flames

On the night of October 23, Abdul Rahman (name changed), a resident of Naraura Tila village in Tripura's Sepahijala district, was getting ready to sleep when someone started banging his door. It was a neighbour who came to inform that the local mosque was up in flames.

While Rahman and others rushed to douse the fire, similar incidents took place simultaneously across several districts as Tripura witnessed a series of incidents of communal violence since October 20 in the aftermath of attacks on Hindus during Durga puja celebrations in neighbouring Bangladesh.

Like Naraura Tila in Bishalgarh block, a mosque in Kakraban (Udaipur block) Krishnagar was also set on fire while those in Dharmanagar and Rowa Bazar were attacked and vandalised.

These apart, the state has also been a mute witness to gutting of houses and shops owned by Muslims in various places, hoisting of Viswa Hindu Parishad (VHP) flags on a mosque wall and at the residence of a prominent Muslim businessman in Kailashahar. In some places mosques have been asked not to blare out azaan, the call to ritual prayer.