Wreckage of vehicles in Bhangar on Saturday. (Express Photo by Partha Paul)
As 28-year-old Hafizul Mollah’s body arrived in Bhangar’s Natunhati Bazaar Chowk on Saturday evening, someone threw water onto small balls found in the nearby compound of local Trinamool leader Arabul Islam. The balls, villagers said, were homemade bombs and they hoped the water would keep them from exploding.
Deaths and the bombs are nothing new to the region where families are thrown asunder by the “andolan” — agitation against the state government’s move to acquire land for a power project.
Outside his home in Tona Bakultala village, 10 km from Natunhati Bazaar Chowk, 59-year-old Shukur Khan is livid at his son Imtiazul Khan (23) who had returned after two weeks in Kolkata.
“Are you afraid of dying. Why? Even if we all die, I will make sure that Arabul is brought to justice. Aren’t you ashamed? People will say you’re a coward,” screams Shukur. In the face of his father’s anger Imtiazul cowers, defending himself with mumbles of having to attend to a sick uncle. Imtiazul is one of the nine who filed their nomination, before the Supreme Court stayed it, through WhatsApp for a seat to the Poliyahat 2 gram panchayat. He calls himself a reluctant candidate.
But Shukur doesn’t care. “I made him, my youngest son, stand. But if every member of my family has to die, I will still ensure that we see this andolan to the end,” said Shukur.
Villagers block a road at Natunhat. (Express Photo by Partha Paul)
The family had already lost one member in the andolan last year. Shukur said his another son Mofizul was simply passing the area where the violence had taken place. “The police were leaving but continued to shoot. My son got caught in this firing and died. We took him to PG hospital but he died on the way. Imtiazul accompanied me. When we came back to our village it was like a graveyard. There was no one around. Then we found them, including the rest of my family, huddled in two huts in the interiors of the village. Everyone was frightened,” he said. Back at Natunhati Bazaar Chowk 35-year-old Fatema Bibi and her husband from Kaliahat village, nearly 3 km away, had come to pay tribute to Mollah. They had been hiding for the past few weeks. Bibi is a candidate to the Ghazipur gram panchayat, which, she says, puts a target on her back.
“The TMC had initially put a lot of pressure on me to withdraw once my nominations had been accepted. They offered to build me a house, said they’d give me a lot of money,” she alleges. But when she didn’t, she alleges Arabul’s men picked her two sons (15 and 17 years of age) up. “They were beaten and then made to call me at gunpoint. They said I needed to step down immediately. They called me to Arabul’s place,” she says. She said it was only after much pressure on Islam through authorities that her sons were let go.
At the site where the bombs were found, 25-year-old Maruk Mallik opens a jute bag that had more of the balls. He isn’t from around here. “I have been here since yesterday (Friday) as a part of the andolan,” he said. “We come here secretly. It isn’t just in this gram panchayat where Arabul Islam has terrorised people but in mine (Poliyahat 1) as well.” Then, grabbing a ball, he said, “I wanted to see for myself the stash that he had.’’