Sahebghata space of Kaliaganj meeting constituency in West Bengal’s Uttar Dinajpur district is dwelling to the grave of a teenage Rajbongshi woman whose physique was present in a neighborhood canal on April 21, 2023.
About 10 kilometers away, in Kaliaganj’s Chandgaon village, there may be additionally the grave of Mritinjoy Birman, a younger Rajbongshi. After the physique of the woman, who was allegedly raped and murdered, was recovered, locals erupted into violence and protesters torched the Kaliaganj police station. On April 26, Mritinjoy was allegedly killed by police gunfire throughout a raid on his village.
The Rajbongshi neighborhood, registered underneath the Scheduled Caste (SC) class, relies in a number of districts of North Bengal, together with Uttar Dinajpur, and has vital affect in a number of Meeting constituencies.
There are two extra graves in Daribhit village in Islampur constituency, about 50 km from Kaliaganj, the place the our bodies of native youths Rajesh Sarkar and Tapas Birman are buried. They had been killed on September 20, 2018, in an alleged police taking pictures close to Daribhit Excessive College. This got here after a number of villagers staged a violent protest towards the hiring of Urdu and Sanskrit academics to switch the science academics that they had demanded at their faculties.
In each circumstances, the households of the deceased remained adamant about their demand for a CBI investigation into the deaths and selected to bury the our bodies as a substitute of cremating them, believing that if an investigation had been to happen, the our bodies may need to be exhumed.
These graves have attracted specific consideration within the run-up to each Lok Sabha and meeting election within the state lately, particularly in Uttar Dinajpur. It’s because the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the primary opposition social gathering, the BJP, are engaged in a blame recreation and slugfest over the grave.
The BJP all the time begins its marketing campaign from Daribhit to Uttar Dinajpur and the district is at present heading to the primary section meeting polls on April 23.
“In each election, the Bharatiya Janata Celebration begins its marketing campaign from right here (Daribhito),” mentioned Nilkamal Sarkar, father of slain youth Rajesh Sarkar. “As soon as once more, Bharatiya Janata Celebration candidate (from Islampur) Chitrajit Roy visited us and paid homage on the grave earlier than beginning his election marketing campaign.We went campaigning with him that day. Poliborton (Regime change) We is not going to get justice. That’s the reason we’re working with the BJP. ”
The BJP organized a job for his youthful son within the state meeting.
“In 2016, Kaniah Lal Agarwal ran as a Congress candidate and all of us voted for him. Later, he joined the TMC. In 2018, kids had been killed following protests at Daribhit faculty. Within the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, we supported the BJP in Raiganj, the place its candidate defeated Kaniah Lal of the TMC. In 2021, TMC’s Abdul Karim Chaudhry turned MLA from Islampur, however this time Kanair Lal might be contesting from right here on TMC ticket,” Nilkamal mentioned.
The households of the slain youths had moved the Calcutta Excessive Courtroom searching for a central company probe into their killings. In 2023, the court docket ordered the Nationwide Investigation Company (NIA) to analyze. “Presently, the NIA is investigating the case, however nothing main has occurred,” Nilkamal mentioned.
In Sahebghata, the mom of the sufferer woman mentioned, “We’re leaving her buried as a CBI investigation is required. The primary accused is in jail, whereas the opposite accused are on bail. Nonetheless, I get help from the TMC. They’re retaining in contact with us.” Her husband works as a every day wage laborer in Nepal.
Mrityunjoy’s mom Jyotsna Barman, 66, mentioned she continues to be haunted by recollections of the night time of April 26, 2023, when her son was shot useless throughout a police raid. “When Mritinjoy handed away, Kartik Chandra Paul (Raiganj Folks’s Celebration MP) helped us rather a lot. Suvendu Adhikari (opposition chief) additionally got here right here and guaranteed us that he would do something to make sure justice for us,” she says.
“I do not consider within the ongoing CID probe. We would like a CBI probe and have additionally filed a case within the Calcutta Excessive Courtroom. However justice remains to be escaping us. We are going to depart Mritinjoy’s physique buried and hope that sometime the central company will exhume it once more for a autopsy,” says Jyotsna. The BJP additionally organized a job within the state meeting for Mritinjoy’s spouse.
Of the 9 seats in Muslim-majority Uttar Dinajpur, the TMC received six seats and the BJP received three within the 2021 polls. Nonetheless, Raiganj MLA Krishna Kalyani of the BJP later defected to the TMC and received the TMC ticket within the 2024 by-polls. This time, he’s as soon as once more operating as a TMC candidate from Raiganj, the place Kaushik Chaudhary of the Bharatiya Janata Celebration, Mohit Sengupta of the Congress and Kibananda Sengupta of the CPI(M) are within the fray.
Within the 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the TMC misplaced to the BJP within the Raiganj seat.
Within the upcoming meeting polls, observers say that in addition to Raiganj, the Bharatiya Janata Celebration and the TMC may even see a “shut contest” in Kaliaganj and Islampur, which the Bharatiya Janata Celebration received in 2021.
Importantly, not like the Muslim-majority districts of Murshidabad and Malda, Uttar Dinajpur noticed comparatively few deletions in latest rulings following the Particular Intensive Revision (SIR) of the Electoral Register by the Election Fee (EC).
There have been 31,384 deletions in Ghorpokhar, 31,562 in Karandigi, 18,215 in Hemtabad and 18,770 in Itahar. These are the seats received by TMC in 2021. “There isn’t any polarization but this time. However our battle could also be more durable than in 2021 or 2024,” mentioned a neighborhood TMC chief.
Nonetheless, TMC district president and candidate Kanhaiya Lal Agarwal mentioned, “SIR is not going to have any affect in Uttar Dinajpur. We’re on monitor and can win nearly all of the seats right here.”
On the difficulty of the 4 graves, he mentioned, “Buried our bodies are a problem that the Bharatiya Janata Celebration raises each election. Typically, it doesn’t have an effect on the constituency. The state authorities is doing all the pieces it could actually for the households of the victims.”
Uttar Dinajpur was as soon as generally known as the seat of the Congress, the place the late social gathering stalwart Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi was a member of the parliament in 1999 and 2004, and in 2009, it was headed by his spouse Deepa Dasmunshi.
In Chakuria, the Congress intensified its marketing campaign and fielded Ali Imran Ramji and Victor from the seat. Ramji was additionally the Congress candidate from Raiganj within the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, and Raiganj was additionally main in Chakuria district. “Nonetheless, Victor’s fundamental drawback this time is that he is not going to have the help of the Left Entrance because the Congress and the Left are preventing this election individually. In any other case, he’s prone to be a robust candidate for Chakuria,” says a senior CPI(M) chief.
