W.Bengal: 7 villages Blockaded by TMC and Police

Circumscribed by the police and the hooligans belonging to the ruling party of West Bengal, life has come to a standstill for the residents of seven villages in Bhangar Block of West Bengal. A blockade has been ostensibly engineered to teach the residents a lesson for resisting the land grabbing and to hinder their determination to contest the upcoming panchayat polls. 

The villagers from Khamarait, Puna Padmapukur, Machibhanga, Uriyapaara of the Bhangar block of the South 24 Parganas haven’t been able to step out of the district for the last fortnight. The residents have reported terrorising sounds of bullets being fired throughout the night. This diktat of encircling ‘rogue’ villages – the villages not in the clutches of the TMC – has come from the highest echelons of the ruling party, the villagers have alleged.

Bhangar is situated on the eastern fringes of the expanding Kolkata Metropolis, shoulder to shoulder with the ultra-modern Rajarhat township. With the land prices skyrocketting and with the Mamata government abandoning the policy of state’s mediation in land acquisition, the area has been left to the mercy of the TMC leaders turned land sharks.

“In  liaison with the TMC supremo and CM Mamata Banerjee and her different ministers, land mafias  are snatching away the lands of the villagers – mostly minorities of the area – and are devouring  any compensation pay out that anybody is paying,” claimed All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) leader Tushar Ghosh.

When a secret land acquisition, while keeping the villagers in the dark, took place, spontaneous protests by the people erupted against the land sharks like former TMC MLA and current Panchayat Samiti Sabhadhipati Arabul Islam, and Sabyasachi Dutta, who is now the mayor of Rajarhat – Salt Lake municipality.

In view of the movement and heeding to the appeal of the villagers, the Left Front and nearly all the opposition parties of the state—barring the BJP—have extended support to the villagers. Over 100 villagers have been reportedly arrested or simply been picked up by the police. 

Last year, Bhangar had witnessed protests after the police firing on January 17 took life of two youths and injured another youth grievously.

“We are not being allowed to go to work or sell our produce. Our only fault has been that we still oppose the land grabbers, or set up high voltage wires through our farmlands, and do not side with the terror antics of the present ruling party of the state,” said 60-year-old farmer Shukur Ali. Ali’s only son was killed in the police firing last year, when they were protesting against forcible land acquisition for the power grid.

This year, it was the combined decision of the villagers to contest the upcoming panchayat polls, as a part of their ongoing movement against the land grabbers and forcible land acquisition in the area.   

On April 7, a team of willing candidates was reportedly taken to the Block Administrative office by the police and then mercilessly beaten up, following which, the villagers sought judicial intervention. Calcutta High Court has issued a stay order on the panchayat elections preparation till April 16.

“We want to contest the elections, and we have got the support of all the opposition parties, cutting across party lines. Let us show the ruling party and the state administration – who really represents the interest of the common people of Bhangar,” said Ali.

“If we protest, police arrest us, and impose the infamous UAPA Act on our folks, and on the leading members of the Bhangar Movement. This virtually gives them the right to have our brethren in custody for 90 days without bail,” said Maidul Islam, a school teacher and a prominent leader of the movement.

“Are we a part of a banned organisation? Or is an anti-land grabbing movement done by peaceful but poor villagers anti-national?” he asked.

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