UP Elections 2017: Three years after riots, hoping for a better tomorrow

After the evening prayers, residents of Hamza colony gather outside Salamuddin's one-room home, one of the few places in Hamza Colony that has "stolen electricity". As a couple of young men hook a line to tap electricity so they can charge their mobile phones, the conversation turns, as it often does in these days, to the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly poll.

"We just want someone who will protect us. It shouldn't be like that politicians come here to seek votes and then leave us on our own after the election," says Salamuddin.

The despair, edged with the faint hope that the election might improve their lives, echoes through the congested lanes of the colony of 52 Muslim families who were displaced after the 2013 riots in nearby Muzaffarnagar.

The 280 odd men, women and children initially stayed in a relief camp in the Kandhla eidgah and moved to the colony a few months later. But the conditions were abysmal – and continue to be so.

Water is provided by tubewells but is not fit for consumption. Families manually extract waste from latrines because there is no drainage or sewage system. The nearest school is about three kilometres away.

"We have only three street lights and those too were installed after two people, including my mother-in-law, died due to snakebites," said 29-year-old Shamim, one of those trying to charge his phone at Salamuddin's house. He worked as a barber back at his village Lisarh when riots broke out.

For riot survivors like Shamim, all attempts to forget the past are futile because of the difficult present. The future stretches bleak.

"We are thankful for the compensation the state government gave us. However, the truth is that no amount of compensation is enough when you are thrown out of your home. The money that was given to us was used buying the plot here and the rest was used for my younger brother's surgery," he said.

As they gather at Salamuddin's home and other places, all the displaced families talk about is what a regime change would mean for them.

The stories are horrific. Salamuddin said 13 people were killed in his village. This included five members of his own family and his own brother. "They attacked him with swords when he was coming towards my home. Days later, someone told us that a newspaper reported the death of Shukan and his wife. They were found near a stream in Baghpat," he said.

Some distance away, at Nahid Colony in Kairana, Shezad recounts how his cousin Mohamad Ashu was killed. "He was beheaded. My brother and I took our horse carts and ran. My horse fell. But it is god's decree that he rose and dropped us to Kairana."

Hamza and Nahid are not the only colonies in the area. There are numerous others set up after the riots, with names like Ekta, Jannat and Raj Garden – each name holding out the promise of a better tomorrow for the 50,000 refugees they house.

Unemployment coupled with the low standards of sanitation and hygiene and lack of food is turning out to be a lethal mix. And though some want to raise issues with politicians visiting the colonies, others have accepted this as their fate.

"Feeling hungry all the time is something we are familiar with. Just like feeling cold," said Feroz, one of those displaced.

As another set of elections approach, whose responsibility are these homeless thousands of Muzaffarpur, Sangli and other areas? Is any politician listening?