West Bengal elections: Victims of Maoist violence in 'Junglemahal' allege falling in TMC blind spot

Over two decades have passed since Bidu's husband Kartik met a violent death at the hands of armed Naxals.

Lalgarh: Fifty-something Bidu Singh sat on the charpoy on the courtyard of her dilapidated mud house in Bandhgora village of Lalgarh in West Bengal's Jhargram district, her eyes without expression.

A construction work of a brick-and-mortar residence has only just begun on the lion's share of the courtyard, but Bidu says she has no excitement about her new home.

Over two decades have passed since her husband Kartik met a violent death at the hands of armed Naxals, who tied him to a tree inside an adjacent forest and pumped bullets in different parts of his body.

Bidu remembers how Kartik, a small farmer, was dragged from the adjacent market area, allegedly by armed Maoists, sometime in 2005 for openly defending the CPI(M), the then ruling party in West Bengal, and opposing the violent means of resistance adopted by the Naxals, before they tortured him to death.

Bidu's son, Suvendu, was awarded a job as a special home guard at the local Lalgarh police station by the Mamata Banerjee government, as part of its compensation package for victims of red violence in this erstwhile Maoist hub.

With her son landing a job, Bidu said she was able to marry her daughter off with added financial help from her relatives, and is currently able to meet household expenses, but only barely.

"My son has managed to save some money and taken a loan to build our new home since the current one is on the verge of crumbling down," she said.

But, when asked whether she will support Mamata Banerjee in the polls this time in return for the assistance she extended to her family, Bidu responded with momentary silence.

"The Maoists who surrendered later were also given the same compensation package by this government; some of them are working in the same thana as my son. How is that justice?" she said, bursting into tears.

Not far from Bidu's house, Pulin Murmu, a tribal resident of the same village and a peon at a local school, expressed initial reluctance to speak about his family's current plight.

His family had hogged national spotlight in November 2008 when Pulin's mother, Chhitamoni, suffered severe eye injuries after being attacked by the state police, as part of raids conducted in retaliation for the landmine blast in then chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's convoy.

A rifle butt strike landed on Chhitamoni's eye, causing significant bleeding and, according to reports, damage to her vision.

The incident was part of broader, severe police actions against villagers in Lalgarh, which triggered mass protests and formation of the People's Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA), which later graduated itself into the mass militia of the Maoists and engaged in violent turf fights with security forces, causing the red soil of Jhargram to turn redder with blood spill.

"The job I received from the government is contractual in nature, entailing a fixed annual hike of Rs 500," Pulin said, breaking the silence.

"It is difficult to run a household with this kind of salary. I wish the government gave me a permanent job. With provident fund and gratuity benefits, I could have secured a future for my family," he added.

Victims of violence during the Maoist upsurge in the region, some two decades ago – from both ends of the militants as well as the police – villagers of Lalgarh have applied balms on their mental scars and devastating memories during the last 15 years of TMC rule.

Yet, disillusionment seems to be running deep among supporters of the party, who have now removed themselves from active politics to tend to more pressing needs of their families.

"I got a job at a Madhyamik Siksha Kendra (MSK) in 2005 when my monthly salary was Rs 1,500. Now, 21 years later, I draw Rs 15,342. I have two daughters pursuing higher education. How can I support them if I invest my time in politics?" said Hemchandra Mahata, a Lalgarh resident and a former active grassroots organiser for the TMC.

MSKs and Sishu Siksha Kendras (SSKs) were set up during the erstwhile Left rule as community-based upper primary and primary schools, respectively, in rural Bengal and established in areas lacking traditional schools within a 3-km radius.

"Low salaries have remained a long-standing concern for teachers at SSK, MSK, para teachers and Siksha Bandhu posts where the annual increment is only 3 per cent. Before the polls, the CM announced a hike of mere Rs 1,000, which, instead of rejuvenating aspirations, dashed our hopes for better days ahead," Mahata said.

"She could have, instead, stayed mum on the issue. We could have then told people the government is actively trying to make allocations, and announcements will be made after the polls," he said.

Former PCAPA frontman-turned-TMC leader Chhatradhar Mahata said he has an eternal anguish about not being able to do enough for the thousands of families destroyed during the ultra-Left turbulence in this erstwhile Maoist heartland.

A significant section of them, he said, are tending to wounds even today in terms of paying regular visits to courts on account of the multiple Left Wing Extremism (LWE) cases hanging on their shoulders, with the additional angst of financial burden.

"On August 9, 2010, Mamata Banerjee, then an opposition leader, held a public meeting in Lalgarh where she pledged withdrawal of thousands of LWE cases, and providing rehabilitation to those at the receiving end after coming to power. She is yet to keep her promise," Mahata said.

He said that since his switching over to the TMC in 2020, over 1,500 people were awarded special recruitments as home guards across 'Junglemahal', the local nomenclature for forest-covered central Bengal areas.

"But, given the vast number of affected families, that figure is grossly insufficient," Mahata said.

Prasun Sarangi, chairman of TMC's election committee in Jhargram, said Mamata Banerjee's development plank will help obfuscate these disillusionments among voters.

"Our party doesn't have a structured system to reach out to the vast number of affected households in this region," he admitted, stating that over 800 families in Jhargram and adjacent Binpur assembly areas alone have turned to paupers fighting court cases.