Climate-Displaced, Now Deleted: A Bengal Village Caught Between River and State

In the hamlet, dissatisfaction against the ruling parties, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the state and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Centre, hung as heavy as the humid April air.

“Now that our names have not come up in the SIR, will we ever be rehabilitated? Or will they just discard us into Bangladesh,” Najma asks while pointing across the river to the Bangladeshi shore.

According to locals, the state government has allotted land ‘pattas‘ to the displaced families. “We have been given pattas, and we received a compensation amount as well. But most of us have not yet been able to go to the allotted land as the previous occupants refuse to move,” Ashanoor states.

“Some plots look like they were ditches that have dried up… they are caved in and haven’t yet been filled up. When it rains, those lands are likely to flood. It’s like they picked the families up from the river and threw them into the pond,” Mohd Masood, a local activist associated with the Porijayi Shramik Aikyo Mancha, an social group that works for migrant workers, tells The Quint.

He alleges that the TMC government has turned a blind eye to the situation, and even during elections, the issue of river erosion is not a poll issue. “All everyone can think about is the SIR. Because of the unneccesary chaos it has created, all real issues that the people face through the year have been eclipsed,” he adds.

Locals also alleged that the government had promised to take steps to protect the land from further erosion, but has failed to do so.

Imran Ali, an MA graduate from Calcutta University who lives nearby, shows The Quint how the government has been using bags of sand and bamboo cages filled with rocks tied up in a net to prevent the soil from breaking away.

“The river swallows houses several stories high when it swells. Will these sand bags and boulder boxes stand a chance? Why can’t they create concrete boulders like they have done in Digha?” he asks.

“This village is on the border with Bangladesh. It isn’t just a question of our lives but a matter of national security. But neither Prime Minister Narendra Modi nor our Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee care for this village. Maybe because it’s a minority area? I can’t say…” Imran alleged.

Both Muslim and Hindu voters of Taranagar The Quint spoke with agreed that mostly the Muslim names under adjudication have been deleted from the final voter list. Locals also believe the deletions are higher among women due to the change in their maiden surnames after marriage.

On 19 April, as a massive kaal baishakhi (storm) tore through parts of Murshidabad, Taranagar residents were yet again faced with the spectre of their homelessness. Water sprayed through the patchwork roofs, and turned the muddy tracks leading to the tents and remaining homes into sludge.

Explaining the difficulties they face in living in with such dire conditions, the elderly Mustana Bibi who lives in the tent adjoining Ayesha’s narrates:

Mustana still has her vote. She asserts that this time, she will vote for change, alluding to the Congress. “It is a matter of life and death now. We need someone to help us,” she said.

In fact, in some seats in Murshidabad like Lalgola, the Congress has seen a quiet resurgence this year with Muslim voters unlikely to vote for the BJP, and Mamata Banerjee experiencing a degree of anti-incumbency (many blame her for not being able to prevent the SIR chaos).

Speaking to The Quint, the Congress’s Lalgola candidate Tohidoor Rahaman Suman said the river erosion issue is of utmost importance in Lalgola, but the TMC has ignored it.

“Despite all the money being sanctioned in the name of saving the region, the result is for all to see. No embankment has been made, people have not received or been even allotted lands. Even for the land allotment, I hear that locals had to pay ‘cut money’ to ruling party members to faciliate the work. This kind of attitude of the government towards a marginalised people speaks of political indifference,” Suman, a local young Turk popular for his ‘clean image and ground connect’, said.

Suman, nevertheless, is facing off with the TMC’s Abdul Razzak, son-in-law of former TMC leader Enamul Haque.

The latter has been accused of running the inter-border cow smuggling business from these parts and has the reputation of a being a local “Robinhood” bahubali, one that locals both rever and fear.

“Since the polls are near, we had some visits by politicians assuring us improvement. Once the elections are over, we will be forgotten again,” Najma’s mother-in-law Jahanara Bibi, who has lived in the village for over 50 years, says.

She has seen the wrath of Padma before in 1995. But she feels this time, it is worse as it is not just the river out to get them.

“Our life now hangs in a delicate balance between a hostile river that wants to swallow us, and a hostile government that wants us swallowed,” she sighs.

Behind her, the Podda flows on.