Biplab's statement leaves party red-faced

Agartala, May 11: Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb got embroiled in a fresh gaffe during the celebration of 137th birth anniversary of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore on May 9 when he said the poet "returned his Nobel Prize in protest against the British".
The chief minister's comment at a function in Udaipur has triggered another controversy and once again hit the national headlines.
A video has gone viral in the social media for the last two days where Mr Deb is shown saying that Rabindranath Tagore “returned his Nobel Prize in protest against the British”.
The poet laureate had in fact returned his Knighthood in 1919 to protest the Jallianwalabagh massacre. It was awarded to him in 1915, two years after he won the Nobel prize for literature.
The chief minister's statement triggered severe criticism across the country.
While his party the BJP hit back at the opposition for making a 'non-issue' as the centre of discussion
and undermining the state, the CPI(M) and Congress advised the chief minister to stop talking about issues he is not conversant with.
Mr Deb refused to comment on the controversy and instead requested the opposition to contribute in the process of development keeping aside unnecessary discussion to divert the attention of the people.
During the past month the Tripura CM had said on different occasions that internet existed during the time of Mahabharata and claimed that international beauty pageants were a farce and questioned the rationale behind crowning Diana Hayden 'Miss World' 21 years ago. He was, however, all praise for Aishwarya Rai, who won the Miss World crown in 1994, saying she "represents the Indian women" in the true sense.
His utterances have turned the youth, his biggest fan, against him. His latest statement before school students triggered strong reaction across the society.
According to BJP leaders, after repeated gaffes by Biplab Deb, which embarrassed the party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he was advised not to make extempore speech in the public gathering except at political programmes.
“Of course, the chief minister is not expected to make such wrong statement and trigger controversy. But at the same time it is not wise for responsible political parties to making those an issue of discussion to undermine some individual. It would have been better if someone had corrected it in the hall instead of making the video in public,” stated leading intellectual and opinion maker of Tripura Subal Kumar Dey.
'The person who made the video was a man of Tripura and identified the mistake committed by the chief minister. But the one who made it public intended to offer a tool to the opposition and help in shaming the state,' Mr Dey said.
Before criticising the chief minister or any political leader for such unintended issues, the people of the state should become aware that Tripura has been getting publicity for the wrong reasons. Since the 90’s the state has been getting coverage either for insurgency, brutality, bloodshed, corruption and maladministration. Now the time has come to stop these, he observed.
CPI(M) state secretary Bijan Dhar said Mr Biplab Deb should not bring more embarrassment to the state. Rather he must be well prepare ahead of public speaking.
Pradesh Congress vice-president Tapas De said the people voted the BJP to power envisioning good things. But now that is reversing.
Meanwhile, BJP vice-president Subal Bhowmik said the party did not want to concentrate on such non issues. 'The government is striving hard to build the state in the next three years and these issues will in no way help the state to develop,' he added. UNI