Update on Khangardihi Violence

After July 11, when our last report was written, two more families of Khangardihi village have reported intimidation and threats. Bhakti Dului’s wife reports that she has been asked not to farm her land till her husband returns. Srikanta Dului and his family also fled the village, as Srikanta was being threatened with violence because he avoided attending the kangaroo court being organized by village level Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders.

On July 30, after a great deal of persuasion of the district-level TMC leadership and the police, a meeting was organised in the presence of the Inspector in charge of the Midnapore Sadar police station. A written agreement was signed by PBKMS leaders, district-level and local leaders of the TMC, stating that the families would return; that they would be allowed to farm their land and, as a peace gesture, PBKMS would organise a medical camp in the village. On the evening of the medical camp, another meeting would be held to sort out problems.

PBKMS activists were invited by village-level TMC leaders to a meeting to discuss the modalities of the medical camp slated for a few days later. They were instead heckled and threatened. Later, the TMC village leaders made the excuse that as Ramzan had started they would rather not hold the camp.

In the meantime, the families that have returned have been told not to plant paddy on their land. They have been ostracized - other villagers have been told not to give them plough animals or tractors. No agricultural worker is allowed to work on their land. Villagers have been told not to talk to them.

The four families tried to farm their land on their own. PBKMS members from nearby villages had assured them that they would arrange workers and plough their land. PBKMS members also organised the medical camp in a nearby village on the agreed date defying the TMC village bullies. However, on August 6, Mukti Dului was again badly beaten up. His ‘crime’ was that he had dared to talk to some of his neighbours. The families are too frightened to complain to the police or to speak to anyone, as they fear that the police cannot protect them.

Life in rural Bengal thus continues as it has always done – with intimidation, threats, fines and physical violence of the “rulers”, who have taken the law in their own hands.

Related Posts: Green terror in Khangardihi 
                     Letter to Mamata 
                     Fact-Finding Mission 

Who Is The Owner? What Is The Project At Kulpi?

Developments at Kulpi have confirmed that benami transactions that avoid the land ceiling on agricultural land are taking place.  A meeting on July 27, 2011, at the Block Development Officer’s (BDO) office in the presence of the BDO, the Block Land and Land Reforms Officer, the Officer in Charge (OC) of Kulpi police station, the MLA and the Panchayat Samity Sabhapati. PBKMS members and Debjit Dutta from the National Alliance of People’s Movements insisted that they would like to talk to the land owners rather than the middlemen or “arrangers”. A letter was then produced by the OC and the MLA from a law firm, R.N. Ghosh and Associates, on behalf of an unnamed client, which mentioned that their client was planning a maritime manufacturing business at the “project site” in Tangrachar and Rangaphala.

“Who is the client?” we asked. No details were forthcoming. “What is the project?” asked the local people. No answer was given.

The background to this meeting is as follows: when the land sharks or “arrangers” (as the middlemen are known in Kulpi) began fencing off the land on July 22, the village women objected to it. There was a tussle between the women and the “arrangers”, forcing the police to call a meeting to resolve the problem. On July 27, when about 50 women and a few men from the PBKMS arrived at the Kulpi BDO’s office for this meeting, they found themselves outnumbered. A drunken mob of about 300-400 people with placards saying “We Want Industry” had surrounded the BDO. The plan was to intimidate the complainants, in which they did not succeed.

At the meeting, it was decided that the PBKMS would have to put in specific complaints, which would then be examined by the administration. Subsequently, PBKMS has helped 11 individuals file complaints. Five of them - Jabdali Peyada, Alauddin Jamader,Aipan Beowa, Badal Sarder and Sabur Ali Jamader- are bargadars or sharecroppers. They are not being allowed to farm their land, as the landowner has sold it to the mysterious new landowners. The law, however, says that the landowner may change but the bargadars’ rights to till the land remain. Four sisters - Ayesha Bibi, Firuja Bibi, Chokina Bibi and Khodeja Bibi - have also complained, saying that their land had been sold by co-heirs without their consent. Nabeen Sapui has complained that he had taken land on a registered lease for 10 years but the leasee-owner has sold off the land before the end of the lease period. And, the crowning glory is Jaharul Mollah, who says his land has exchanged hands without his knowledge!

Fish workers have also complained that their access to the river is being denied and that they fear that the new project will pollute the water leading to loss of occupation for them.

Despite these pending complaints, we found much to our surprise that the police again began helping the “arrangers” fence off the land. This August 5, the local people gathered once again to stop fencing. Strong protests over the phone to the administration at all levels led to the withdrawal of police protection for the illegal fencers. This has turned out to be a mixed blessing for now the “arrangers” are using country-made guns to protect themselves and to prevent protests while fencing continues.

This August 8, the individual complainants filed in court for injunctions. We have also brought the matter to the notice of the Ministers of Land and Land Reforms (who also happens to be the Chief Minister, Ms Mamata Banerjee) and the Minister for Industries and Commerce, Mr Partha Chatterjee, on the same day.

                   

Street-corner meetings, village meetings, putting up posters and distribution of leaflets were conducted on August 8 and 9 to create awareness among the public on the issue. 

Related Posts: Private land grab at Kulpi

                    Letter to District Magistrate

Letter To Mamata On Khangardihi

Smt Mamata Banerjee,

Honorable Chief Minister,

Government of West Bengal,

Writers’ Building ,

Kolkata

Date: 11 July 2011

Dear Mamatadi,

An essential part of the change that you sought in West Bengal was a change in the political culture which would allow for the peaceful co-existence of different political views. We had supported this from our Samity fully. However, events in Midnapore Kotwali PS have shown that even after the elections, such a change in political culture has not taken place. Members of our union, Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity, have been subject to various forms of torture only because they have said that they have the right to hold an independent political view.

To put the matter briefly, about 200 villagers from Khangardihi village in Midnapore Kotwali PS, all of them from the low caste Bagdi caste, had formed their own organisation and had later joined our union in mid 2010. As you know well and as is usual for us, we took up issues like NREGS implementation, problems in the midday meal scheme, local corruption etc. in the village. The independent functioning of lower caste people seems to have hurt the egos of the dominant village leadership. Most of these were with the CPI(M) initially and later switched to the TMC.  On at least two occasions before the elections, the PBKMS members were attacked for raising issues of corruption and injustice. With the administration and our intervention we managed to restore peace.

 

After the elections, a “cleansing” operation began in the village, with all being told that they must join the TMC and “surrender’. Some of our members protested and were beaten up. 15 people have now been forced to flee the village. An FIR has been filed, but witnesses are being intimidated. Many others have been beaten up, but have not dared to file complaints, after receiving threats of further torture. In a village where we had 200 members, now not even one person is allowed to phone or contact us or even their relatives who have fled from the village. An old woman, one of those who had fled from the village, returned to the village for the funeral of her niece, but found that even her own relatives were too scared to speak to her.

The police have taken no action and in fact the local PS seems to be helping the accused. We have informed the ASP and have been told that he could arrange for a police escort for the people to return, an impractical suggestion because there is no security for those who return after the police leaves. We have requested various people within the TMC hierarchy, starting from the district (Shri Prodyut Ghosh, Shri Dinen Rai and Shri Mrigen Maity) to the state level leadership (Shri Mukul Roy and Shri Partha Chatterjee) to take steps to ensure that the families outside can go back and live in peace in the village, but there has been very little progress, with village level leaders turning a deaf ear to their seniors in the TMC leadership.

We would request you to take action on the matter to ensure that the families can go back to their homes and so that dissent is not treated as a crime , and people can live together peacefully.

A detailed note of the events  prepared by the Samity is attached for your information and action. We are also sending a note from a team consisiting of members of NAPM, APDR , Midnapore Suraksha Samity and Janaswasthya Adhikar Manch that independently enquired into the matter.

Thanking you,

Yours sincerely,

Anuradha Talwar

Swapan Ganguly

Related Posts: Green Terror at Khangardihi
                     Update on Khangardihi  
                     Fact-Finding Mission

Fact-Finding Mission At Khangardihi

[Human rights activist, Debjit Dutta’s report on violence at Khangardihi]

A three-member team, with activists from three different organizations that had actively participated in the people’s movement preceding the all-important ‘parivartan’ (change in West Bengal with the electoral defeat of the CPIM), visited Khangardihi village of Medinipur Sadar, Block-I on June 14, 2011. This was because of a report that Neelkamal Singh, a member of the Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity (PBKMS) as well as an enterprising, conscious and reasonably educated youth who also happened to be one of the founders of Bagdi Janakalyan Samity, an organisation to safeguard the rights of the Bagdis (SC), was forced to leave his village along with some of his relatives and neighbours.

A continuing series of threats, boycotts, acts of extortion, intimidation etc. over the years before the Assembly elections, when almost the entire village was a stronghold of the CPI(M), culminated in a virtual eviction of Neelkamal  and others after the sweeping victory of the present ruling party, as reported. The team tried to find out the facts independently, irrespective of any pre-or post-election bias.

While the team approached the residence of Neelkamal (Neelu) and the locality at Khangardihi on the scorching afternoon of June 14, 2011, only one elderly lady, out of at least ten households, dared to offer some water to drink, that too on the condition that she should not be asked any questions – a familiar feature in most villages during the party-cracy. In no time, she fled - or was made to flee- by people who could not be seen. Not a single person was willing to speak – a disheartening fact in the present political scenario.  Without entering into details, it can be said that the team was made unwelcome by Neelu’s neighbours not by choice but out compulsion, threats and a sense of insecurity. The watchful eyes of the neighbourhood did not go unnoticed by the team.

It was an entirely different story, however, when the team had to interact with those willing and eager to talk - the village Trinamool Congress (TMC) supporters, who are said to be mostly ‘convert TMCs’ and who apparently sympathized with the actions of PBKMS but were not willing to accept Neelu’s ‘arrogance’ as he would not function in the way they wanted him to do. Ranjan Singh, one of Neelu’s relatives, was the most vocal against himalthough Dalim Mallik, another TMC leader, seemed more tolerant in his approach. None of them, however, admitted that Neelkamal was beaten up by Ganesh Singh and others on June 9, after which he had to leave the village. On the contrary, they were furious that a complaint was lodged with the police in Medinipur police station against Ganesh and a few others. They had a lot to say against Neelu but no one was willing to accept the fact that Neelu along with his relatives, friends and neighbours were terrorized – a fact that was clearly evident when we visited their locality earlier.

The members of the fact-finding team held long discussions with all sides and tried to convince them that the situation in the village was undesirable and detrimental to their well-being, more so after the much-awaited change in the political scenario. They tried to impress upon the villagers that the disputes could only be resolved through discussions among themselves. The same suggestions were made by the team members to Pradyot Ghosh, Dinen Roy and other senior TMC leaders in the same evening with an appeal to arrange for an immediate meeting. Such appeals were made on behalf of PBKMS earlier too. The villagers and the senior leaders seemed to have understood the importance of holding such a meeting and agreed to do it soon. All of them apparently admitted that the team members were justified in their approach to resolve the ongoing problem and bring about an end to the atmosphere of violence. However, till date no such initiative has been taken.

On a subsequent meeting with Neelkamal, his elder brother Ram, Mukti Dalui and others at Badu, Barasat - their refuge after fleeing the village - two of the team members learnt of some shocking facts which are stated below:

The very next morning after the declaration of results of the Assembly elections, TMC leader Nurul threatened Neelu along with others and asked them to “surrender”. The CPI(M) supporters obliged but Neelu and his associates refused to do so.

Two days after the poll results, Bifal Bhuiyan threatened Neelu and others and said, “Ekhon theke ja bolbo toder tai shunte habey” (From now on you will have to listen to what I tell you). Some TMC leaders tried to force them to sign an undertaking that they would not be involved with any activities of their organization. Under the supervision of Gafur, almost the entire village was made to “surrender” except 13 villagers, including Neelu, for whom a separate list was prepared.

Later, when the police arrived, one of them asked Neelu, “Shamasta gram TMC korchhe, tumi sangathan korbe? Khub lej gajiye giyechhe?” (You will stick to your organization when the whole village is with the TMC – flashing your tail, are you)  

Related Posts: Letter to Mamata
                     Green Terror at Khangardihi 
                     Update on Khangardihi