india

Updated: Jul 06, 2018 13:37 IST

Tripura chief minister Biplab Deb’s answer to a reporter’s question about a series of lynchings by mobs in the state has landed him in a controversy again.

“There is a wave of joy in Tripura and you should also enjoy this wave. You should also become happy. Look at my face... I am so happy,” Deb said on Wednesday when he was asked about the violent incidents in the state.

The Tripura government later claimed the chief minister was misquoted. A statement released on Thursday evening said Deb’s comments were in the context of the newly-renamed airport in Agartala as Maharaja Bir Bikram Manikya Kishore Airport after the last king.

“Unfortunately, attempts have been made to take the above comments of the chief minister out of context and relate them to the severely reprehensible incidents of lynchings,” the statement by directorate and information and cultural relations said.

Three people have been killed in Tripura in the last eight days after rumours about the presence of child abductors in the state.

An anti-rumour campaigner hired by the government was killed by a mob on June 28 while he was campaigning in Kalacherra.

A garment hawker from Uttar Pradesh was lynched on the same day in West Tripura district over rumours that he was a kidnapper. A vagabond woman was also beaten to death Sepahijala district a day before on similar suspicions.

This is not the first time the 48-year-old chief minister has made headlines for his comments.

Deb’s statement about the existence of the internet and satellite during the Mahabharata era drew sharp reactions from every corner. On another occasion, he said that former Miss World Diana Hayden did not represent Indian beauty. He later apologised.