From war of words between parties to the court and the CBI, post-poll violence dominated Bengal’s political landscape for a year following the assembly elections, with the Trinamool Congress returning to power with a landslide victory.
A year after the violence in the state, News18 met some of the victims in Cooch Behar’s Mathabhanga and found out how their lives had changed.
For 42-year-old Khokon Das, what’s left of his bustling stationery shop in the city’s war number one are broken furniture and the remains of a weighing machine.
Das, a BJP supporter, attended some of the party’s meetings. On May 4 last year, when the BJP lost elections in the state, Das says his house and shop were attacked, forcing him to flee with his family.
Das said that after 14 days when Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar visited Mathabhanga, he too returned home. The governor spoke to him about the vandalism in his shop and the 42-year-old filed an FIR along with several others but life did not remain the same for the family.
Das has been unable to restart his shop. Speaking to News18, he said: “No one helped us; Neither the state nor the central government. We don’t even have food to eat. How will we live? We came back after the violence and filed a case with the police but nothing happened. Entering politics was a mistake. I will never enter politics now, never will.”
Slaves are not alone. Kalyani Das and her husband Bipul Das have the same story to share in the locality. The pro-BJP couple say that all their furniture was broken when their house was attacked. While Bipul managed to get a job as a laborer outside Bengal, Kalyani lives in the area with her children.
Speaking to News18, Kalyani said: “We will not enter ‘jhamela’ (problematic) politics anymore. My husband is out. An FIR was lodged but nothing happened. No one came to save us. We are still scared. What to do. More than 100 families have faced the same situation.”
In Mathabhanga municipality, where the BJP won, the post-poll violence in many homes is accompanied by the reality that the victims here are on their own to rebuild their lives.
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