Dieing to Serve the People
The Communist Party in Action in Bengal
Tragedy of Sania, 1 year 11 months: bullet kills baby, then hits her mother
IMRAN AHMED SIDDIQUI
Nandigram, May 8: The “politically conscious” state that threw up the highest turnout yesterday also witnessed the death of probably the youngest victim of political violence this election.
Sania Khatoun, a year and 11 months old, was in mother Aleya Bibi’s lap last night, being fed her dinner, when alleged CPM supporters entered their home and opened indiscriminate fire. One of the bullets went through Sania’s leg, and then lodged in the stomach of Aleya, 27.
No political party in Bengal could recall anyone as young as Sania being killed in poll violence in recent memory. During last year’s panchayat elections, Mili Khatoon, 4, was killed by a bomb as she played on the verandah of her home in Murshidabad’s Talibpur village.
No one has been arrested for Sania’s murder because “no one has filed any complaint”, East Midnapore superintendent of police P.K. Ghosh said.
Sania bled to death on the way from Satengabari village to a Tamluk hospital, where Aleya lay in the female surgical ward today, recuperating from an operation to remove the bullet. Hospital authorities and relatives have told her Sania is in the paediatric ward and is recovering. Aleya’s husband Sheikh Safiul Ali, a tailor in Delhi, is on his way home.
“I wonder how my baby is doing. I remember very little of what happened last night,” Aleya said in a weak voice.
“All I remember is that there was a lot of chaos, shouting and people with flashlights roaming around the house. Sania was in my lap and I was feeding her rice. Then there was firing and I felt a searing pain.”
The gunmen, allegedly hunting down Opposition supporters for defying a diktat not to vote, seemed to be looking for the wife of a local Trinamul leader who took shelter in Aleya’s home.
Sanyara Bibi alleged the gang had come looking for her and husband Mir Raushan Ali. “I saw them coming because they were shouting. I ran to Aleya Bibi’s home and hid under the bed,” Sanyara said.
“When they found my house empty, they searched Aleya’s home but could not find me. But they were sure I was there, so they fired at random, killing poor Sania.”
Police sources corroborated that armed CPM cadres had travelled from village to village last night in Amdabad II, the only one among Nandigram’s 17 gram panchayats that the Marxists won in last year’s rural polls. Their targets, Opposition supporters alleged, were Trinamul leaders who had “motivated” the villagers to vote.
The district administration admitted receiving reports of Trinamul supporters being threatened and warned not to vote.
“Yes, we had received such complaints and informed the police,” said Nandigram’s block development officer, Aniruddha Chattopadhyay. The local police said they had “no idea” about this.
Unlike the November 2007 “recapture” of Nandigram, the gunmen did not come on motorcycles; they quietly slipped into Amdabad II on foot four nights before the election. Thereafter, they visited Trinamul homes every night and threatened families that they would be killed if they “dared” vote, Sanyara said.
The polling itself was by and large peaceful with a large number of police around; the violence flared only at night when there were fewer personnel around. “They took advantage of the relaxed atmosphere after the peaceful polling,” an officer said.
The gunmen disappeared from Nandigram after the violence, which included a 45-year-old Trinamul supporter being beaten to death in Satengabari. “From what we have gathered, they went back to Keshpur,” the officer said.
CPM district secretary Ashok Guria said there had been firing both by his party and Trinamul. “Sania was killed when a Trinamul supporter opened fire.”
Home secretary Ardhendu Sen has sought a report from district magistrate C.D. Lama
Calcutta, May 8: Violence since the second phase of polling in the state yesterday has made the CPM a tad nervous about its impact on the results and the Opposition optimistic.
The Opposition sees this as further confirmation of the people’s defiance of the CPM and an extension of its campaign against land acquisition for industry.
A CPM state committee member said both sides had anticipated trouble during this phase because the contest was close and the areas that went to the polls had all felt the impact of Nandigram and Singur. “In Hooghly, Nadia, Murshidabad, Howrah, East Midnapore and Burdwan districts, the land issue had much to do with the prospects of both the ruling party and the Opposition. Trouble was likely as these places had been tense and the contest was close.”
The turnout of 83 per cent isn’t a surprise, he added, “as Bengal voters have higher political awareness but an element of nervousness always remains with a high turnout”.
According to the Trinamul Congress, the violence occurred because the elections were no longer a one-sided affair and the Opposition had been able to muster the courage to take on the ruling CPM on the day of the polls.
“It is a fallout of the ten sion that the land row had generated, leading to an outright confrontation that Bengal has been witnessing since the Singur and Nandigram agitations,” said Trinamul general secretary Mukul Roy.
The turnout, which has left the CPM nervous has given a boost to the Opposition. “Overt or covert CPM terror did not mar the enthusiasm of the electorate who felt inspired by Mamata Banerjee’s land agitation and came out in large numbers to vote for her party. It was the electorate’s defiance of the ruling party. The clashes show that our men are there on the streets to counter the CPM’s terror. That was also the reason for a high turnout, which makes us optimistic about the results,” Roy added.
Before the second phase, Bengal CPM secretary Biman Bose had expressed concern about the possibility of trouble. And Mamata had asked voters to come out with their “haata-khunti (spoon and ladle)” to vote, sending the message that they should be tough with the CPM.
According to CPM MP Mohammad Salim, there can be skirmishes around the day of the polls if the rival camps are too charged up. “Violence isn’t desirable, but it’s human instinct. I can’t say whether the violence in the second phase can prompt the Opposition to dream of winning Lok Sabha seats. But seats that are too close to call do lead to an adrenaline rush in the rival parties.”
Some government officials blamed lack of central paramilitary forces for the poll-day clashes. “For the 2006 Assembly polls, the state had got 600 companies. This time, the figure is 220,” a home department official said.
Ten people have been killed in clashes since yesterday. Five of them — from the CPM, Trinamul and the Congress — were killed today in Howrah, Burdwan and South 24-Parganas.
The CPM’s Bose accused the Opposition of spreading violence. “As Trinamul is losing ground, they have become more belligerent and so people should be on guard against the Opposition’s design to spread more violence before the last phase (on Wednesday).”
Family ripped apart
ANSHUMAN PHADIKAR
Nandigram, May 8: Hasina Bibi became a widow last night. She also became a refugee for the third time in a year and a half, having to flee her home in CPM citadel Satengabari.
CPM cadres going house to house and threatening Trinamul Congress supporters who had defied their diktat and voted battered her husband to death.
“There were about 100 of them, armed members of the CPM’s Harmad Bahini (cadres’ army). They screamed revenge against those of us who had voted,” said Hasina, 35, squatting in a courtyard adja-cent to Maheshpur High School, her children clinging to her.
She has four daughters aged between two and eight and a son, who is a year old.
Hasina said she ran to a police jeep parked only 200 metres away from their home when Yasin Mir was lying in blood. “The police refused to budge, saying they were only there to guard the polling booth at Satengabari Primary School.”
Her brother-in-law Mohsin and half a dozen others carried a blood-soaked Yasin on their shoulders for around 2km to reach the block hospital. Yasin died hours later.
Around 3am, Hasina joined the hordes of Trinamul supporters running for their lives from Satengabari. Trudging 5km, she reached the school, which had doubled as a polling centre earlier in the day. “There, we joined many others, most of them men, crouching inside classrooms. I spread a bed sheet on the floor for my children to sleep. This is the first time I’m out of home without my husband,” Hasina said, tears rolling down.
By morning, the “refugee camp” was cramped with over 1,000 people from Satengabari, Keyakhali, Ranichak, Takapura, Kamalpur, Girirbazar — all part of the only gram panch- ayat the CPM won in Nandig-ram last year. Trinamul controls the 16 others.
Yasin, Hasina and Mohsin had fled home for the first time during the CPM’s bloody re- capture of Nandigram in November 2007. They were forced to flee home a second time on the eve of last year’s panchayat polls.
Trinamul leaders today organised a meal of rice, dal and pumpkin curry for about 700 people. The rest had to make do with puffed rice and batasa.
Mir Mosharaf Ali of Ranichak has also become home- less a third time. The count is the same for his two-year-old son. A tailor in Howrah, Mir had come home to vote. “We are tired of running for our lives,” he said.
About 200 more have taken refuge in a Tekhali bakery and a house in Nandigram town.
Trinamul leaders said they had asked the administration to escort these people home immediately. Mohsin was not sure about when that would be.
I hope you have read the above three articles in today's Telegraph.
Is it any surprise that I am so much against politicians.
While they are sleeping peacefully many miles away these idiots who go as their foot soldiers act as cannon fodder.
It makes no difference whether it is the CPM or the Trinumul Congress.
Whoever has the upper had in its area perpetrates these crimes.
The gerneral mass, the women and the children suffer.
What is the president or the governor doing?
We cannot expect any actin from the government, whether state of centre for they are mired in the same corruption, but we can expect some action at least from these titular figureheads.
The least they could ask is for reports and ask the CBI to enquire. The CBI is better than the state inspection agencies who are under the thumbs of the state leaders.
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