Bangla goons, Chinese arms and Indian race

“Border-er opare jaben naki babu? Matra pachsho taka. BSF kicchu bolbe na. (Would you like to cross the border? Only Rs500. BSF will not say anything.).”

Visitors to Haridaspur-Jamtala — the last village before the Indo-Bangla Petrapole border at Bongaon — keep getting such proposals.

With two days left for the final-phase poll in West Bengal, activity on the border has increased and so have the assignments of agents such as Paran (name changed), locally called “Parapar Dalal”. 

Convinced that his name would not appear, Paran agreed to reveal how elections give such agents an opportunity to earn extra money.

“Illegal crossover takes place throughout the year, but it increases at election time. Either people hired from Bangladesh come here to conduct operations, or local goons cross over after conducting operations,” he said.

Kasim, Paran’s transportation sub-agent, said election time also witnessed a rise in smuggling of illegal arms. “There are many illegal arms factories in Bongaon. But they manufacture only single-shooter pistols, which are less effective than the China-made pistols coming from Bangladesh,” he said.

The CPI(M)’s election convener in Bongaon, Dulal Mandal, said the possibility of trouble in poll days was very high. The many bheris (pisiculture canals) are the main connecting routes, he said, adding, “These bheris have adjacent alaghars (warehouses), where criminals take shelter and store arms. These alaghars are also prostitution hubs.”

Mandal claimed most bheri-owners were affiliated to the Trinamool Congress. “We have information that at least in two places, Shimultala and Manigram, Trinamool has assembled cross-border smugglers with huge arms consignments,” he said.

Trinamool leader Ratan Adhikari dismissed the allegation. “The panchayat election proved that the CPI(M) is virtually finished in Bongaon. This time also, they are sure to face a defeat and that is why, they are making such wild allegations,” he said.

Bongaon is perhaps the only constituency in West Bengal where voting takes place on caste lines, not over an issue.

Both the CPI(M)’s Asim Bala and the Trinamool’s Gobinda Chandra Naskar are leaving no stone unturned to prove they are closer to the dominant scheduled caste (SC), especially Matuas, a religious cult with influence on SCs.

Both parties are trying to win the confidence of their association, Matua Mahashangha.
Naskar claimed the Matua sentiment would naturally be with the Trinamool. “On several occasions, Matua Mahashangha head Ma Binapani has blessed our leader [Mamata Banerjee],” he said.

Bala claimed he had traditionally been a Matua follower. “Many CPI(M) workers are also traditional Matua followers,” he said.