Cold horror is a small expression to depict the prevailing tension among the locals in this back-of-beyond village bordering Sunderbans.
Outsiders are clearly not welcome at Bhangipara. Such is the fear that not a single soul here would volunteer to talk.
After much cajoling Rani Mondal (name changed) decides to show some courage but on conditions of anonymity. “Babu you will go today … but tomorrow after the elections if they win they will bomb our houses, attack our children … kill our old people,” she says.
Why would she not talk of the young men? “Beche thakle to bolbo (how can I refer to the young men? Are they alive?) … they have been killed by the men of Shahjahan” (a local TMC tough) she alleges.
Even as she walks up to the Jora Mandir area around where the incident took place she says, “our fault was that the BJP got a lead of 150 votes from this area (though the TMC won the seat) during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections… violence started only after that as their goons came and attacked our men just because they were doing BJP.”
Her father Hari (name changed) says “they came like an Amphan (the cyclone is the latest symbol of horror in the locals’ collective mind), charged bombs … we along with our women hid on the roof or beneath our beds … there were gunshots all around. As the men ran towards the Bheris (fish ponds) they were chased… by the evening it was all over … two bodies were fished out” subsequently.
The two victims were Sukanto Mondal and Pradip Mondal. A third Devdas Mondal is missing still now. His father says “My son was raising a BJP flag at the shop which irked them … they were already wounded by the lead BJP got here … in front of my house my son ran away for his life towards the Bheri … they followed him … there after we do not know what happened. They later brought two bodies but my son has not returned even today … almost two years… look at my eyes … can you find any tears… they have dried up … he helplessly looks at heavens hurling all his complaints up there.”
And then he shows his two grand children and a young dahguter-in-law. “There is no relief. At this old age I have to go out silently to work and manage some food for these little ones and the daughter-in-law. I cannot look at their eyes … they have no hope … no pleasure,” he says relating the worst part of it all.
“And what is worse is the CID that is probing the case does nothing … often we are told that the police is pressured by the TMC to harass us and even arrest us … what have we done … this was not like that in the CPI(M) Government … they were not so cruel.” He would not reveal whether the family did CPI(M) earlier or not.
Padma Mondal the wife of a victim and now a BJP leader shows courage saying “we will not let the culprits go unpunished … the people cannot speak up out of fear … but tomorrow they will definitely.”
The alleged perpetrator of the crime Shahjehan however would rubbish the allegations as “false and baseless … they have their land slipping beneath their feet and now they are blaming the TMC.” When told to explain his meteoric rise from rags to riches he says “we have been doing business for so many years.”
Cut to the nearby village where the family of Abdul Kayum Mollah, have a different tale to tell. “It is the BJP men who attacked us and killed the man here … he was chased and shot dead because he was a TMC,” say the victim’s family members asking in a hushed tone “Dada BJP ki sotti aschhey (elder brother is BJP really coming).
When asked about the source of the family’s earning they say “we do odd work like farming, fishing or sometimes construction labourers…”
When reminded that there is no material difference between the earthly condition of the two sides, both being poor Asfaq Sk a relative of the victim says “Dada jani to … agey to erokom chilo na … ekhon hoi (we know it … earlier it was not like that … today it is like that).”
When asked about their real problems both the sides have similar things to say: lack of income, lack of education and health facilities, lack of job and corruption. “I went for Asha Karmi … they asked for Rs one lakh” says Ameena Khatoon adding the job still eludes her as she could not pay the amount.
And what will they do on the polling day April 17. “God knows babu … will we be allowed to vote?” That is another common refrain on both sides.