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Pre-poll violence in Birbhum: ‘We were warned that we should buy widow’s sari for our wives’

The clashes that followed at Mohammad Bazaar were recorded, and have since gone viral on social media. The villagers clashed with TMC workers and police. Thousands of them descended on Mohammad Bazaar with lathis and large rocks.

Pre-poll violence in Birbhum: ‘We were warned that we should buy widow’s sari for our wives’ BJP worker and daily wager Nakul Roy and party candidate from Rampur gram panchayat Mallika Kora, in Birbhum’s Chuamali village. (Express Photo by Partha Paul)

On April 3, a day after the State Election Commission announced the start of filing nominations for next month’s panchayat polls, candidates from 12 villages under Mohammad Bazar block in Birbhum district hurried to their local Block Development Office (BDO), only to find it surrounded by “several hundred” Trinamool workers. “Around 300 TMC workers had blocked the office. As we approached to file our nominations, they chased us away,” says BJP district president Ramkrishna Roy. The party’s candidates tried again the next day, and the next, only to be turned away again. “We then decided that all workers and supporters would go together on April 7,” adds Roy.

On the morning of April 7, as many as 14,000 members of the Opposition gathered at Seorakuri near Mohammad Bazaar. “Everyone from every village was there. Most of us were BJP supporters and candidates. But CPM brothers joined us as well. We started marching toward the block office. The police stopped us at several points. When they stopped us at Seorakuri, we broke the police barricade and marched on,’’ says Nakul Roy (29) of Chuamali, a remote village that borders Jharkhand. Roy’s aunt is a gram panchayat candidate from the village. The clashes that followed at Mohammad Bazaar were recorded, and have since gone viral on social media. The villagers clashed with TMC workers and police. Thousands of them descended on Mohammad Bazaar with lathis and large rocks.

BJP block-in-charge Lakshiram Hemram was among those who marched toward the BDO office that day. “The police said we came from Jharkhand, and called us Maoists. Do we have ‘Maoist’ written on our foreheads? As adivasis, most of us keep bows and arrows at home for hunting. But we didn’t use them.”

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Hemram further says, “As we approached the office, TMC workers lobbed bombs at us. We retaliated by throwing rocks and lathis. If we needed to fight this election and preserve democracy so TMC does not win uncontested, we had no choice but to do what we did.”

Like Nakul Roy, many other residents of Chuamali village have been named in the two FIRs registered by Mohammad Bazar police. The first FIR was lodged suo motu by the police at 3.15 pm on the day of the violence. The clashes lasted five hours — from 9.30 am to 1.45 pm — its says, identifying 56 accused and “10,000 others” under IPC sections including 147 (rioting), 148 (armed with deadly weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly), 333 (causing grievous hurt to deter public servant from his duty), 353 (assault to deter public servant from discharge of duty), 338 (causing grievous hurt) and 307 (attempt to murder). The next day, a second FIR was registered, naming 186 persons.

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Superintendent of Police (Birbhum) Sudhir Kumar Neelkantha says, “In our FIR, we named 56 persons. But since there were a large number of people, we have also named approximately 10,000 unidentified persons. We are yet to determine who they all were. Since the violence took place on the day of nominations, it can be inferred that it was political in nature. They were a lot of outsiders in the places where the violence took place. We took some TMC workers to hospital. There have been a number of complaints from TMC as well, which we are investigating. We used tear gas to bring the crowds under control. In both Mohammad Bazaar and Nalhati, we restored law and order. People were able to file nominations. There have been reports that bombs were placed around BDO offices across the district, but they are incorrect.’’

Nakul Roy, a daily wage earner from Chuamali, is among those named in the FIR. “In our village, the men come by day and go by night. We continue to receive threats from TMC and police raids are conducted. Aroop Das (another daily wager earner) has been hiding in the nearby forests since the cases were lodged,” he says, adding, “The police come every day. TMC workers attack us. We are unable to work. We can’t sleep. We get anonymous calls from men who tell us to make sure we have bought sada thaan (white sarees meant for widows) for our wives.”

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Roy maintains that there is “no question” of them not contesting the panchayat polls. “We are being oppressed. Life is hard under the TMC. We don’t even get full payment for the work we do under the NREGS. Six months ago, a group of women from our village went to the administrative office to claim their dues. For every Rs 100, they are meant to get Rs 30. The rest is pocketed by the administration.’’ Roy even claims that the adivasi women had been beaten up when they went to ask for their payment.

Mallika Kar, 44, an adivasi candidate from the village, also participated in the march. “I was accosted by the wife of a local TMC leader yesterday. First she said that if I withdraw my nomination, they will give me a home. I turned it down. She then offered me two homes. She said she would give me a new sari if I went with her that moment and withdrew my papers. I said no. Then she threatened me saying that if I don’t, I’ll be killed,” says Kar, adding that despite the threat, she is determined to contest.

Of the 28 arrested for the Mohammad Bazaar violence, five who were arrested on the first day are BJP candidates. In the neighbouring Hinglo gram panchayat of Chandpur village, 60-year-old Narayan Mahato’s younger brother Krishna, 50, is in jail. “He wasn’t even a part of the clashes. He had gone in the morning and quietly filed his nomination. On the way back, he and four others stopped at a tea stall. A police vehicle came and just picked them up,’’ says Mahato.

There are 19 blocks in Birbhum district under which fall 2,247 gram panchayat seats, 465 panchayat samiti seats and 42 zila parishad seats. Of these, the Opposition has managed to file nominations in five — Moheshwar I, Moheshwar II, Rajnagar, Nalhati I and Mohammad Bazar. “In Moheshwa I, II and Rajnagar, TMC allowed nominations to be filed because a multi-party fight in these blocks benefits the party,’’ says CPM leader and former MP Dr Ramchandra Dom. “In both Mohammad Bazar and Nalhati, the Opposition stormed the BDO offices to get their nominations filed,” he adds.

NALHATI, APRIL 5 

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On April 5, it was the CPM, led by Dom, that stormed the Nalhati BDO office. “From April 2 to 4, nobody was allowed to file nominations. They were beaten and sent back, their nomination papers torn and burnt. On April 5, around 400 of us including the candidates marched towards the BDO office. TMC workers burst bombs along the main state highway and school playgrounds. Ex-MLA of the Forward Block Deepak Chatterjee also accompanied us. The adivasis led the march. As we approached the BDO office, the bombing started. Some adivasis started shooting their arrows. The TMC men fled. We grabbed this opportunity to file our nominations,” says Dom, who was later booked along with four other CPM leaders that day.

Dom himself sustained injuries on his head and arm. “Of the 2,247 gram panchayat seats, CPM filed nominations in 115 seats (12.68 per cent). Another 86 nominations out of 465 panchayat samiti seats have been filed (18.49 per cent). CPM was unable to file nominations for any of the 42 zila parishad seats.

TMC SAYS 

Speaking to The Indian Express, TMC Birbhum president Anubrata Mondal says, “Ask the Opposition how many people they had on the streets at Mohammad Bazaar and Nalhati. Who says they have not been able to file nominations in Birbhum? They have filed in Rajnagar. BJP brought in bus-loads of Maoists from Jharkhand to create trouble here.’’ On the day of the violence, ADG (Law and Order) Anuj Sharma had shown the media a video clip that showed a crowd waving saffron flags.

Last Monday, Trinamool candidates were declared “elected unopposed” from 41 of 42 seats in the Birbhum zilla parishad. The ruling party also won “unopposed” 14 of 19 panchayat samitis in Birbhum.

First uploaded on: 16-04-2018 at 02:47 IST
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