Domkal of Murshidabad is Now Leading the Resistance in the State Against TMC's Terror Antics in Panchayat Polls

Domkal: The place infamous for using socket bombs in the state is seeing a pitched battle being fought almost daily in some Gram Panchayat areas of the Domkal Block between the Left and the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC). Surprisingly, in this block, the TMC is on the back foot.

"In this election, after we forced the nominations through a nomination rally which was organised by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M) but was resisted by TMC tooth and nail, the rally attained its objective as more than a couple of thousand rally attendees forced open the TMC's barricades enacted to prohibit the opposition from submitting nominations to the Panchayat office. Every opposition candidate of the block could submit nominations on that day. This was the starting point of the resistance. After that, it was a new life for the party in the soil of Domkal," said CPI(M) Area committee member Rejaul Karim talking to NewsClick in Domkal.

However, he added that more than 60 CPI(M) activists had been put under preventive detention by the police after TMC lost its steam to fight in the elections. “The resistance has swept away TMC, but now what is perturbing us is the partisan role of the police in these Panchayat polls. To make headway for the TMC, the police are now busy taking the CPI(M) activists into custody, and many cases without pressing charges,” Karim added. 

Every year in Domkal, the election is fought bitterly, and in the last Panchayat elections, many lost their lives in Domkal during the poll day, and scores of party activists received injuries. “But the red flag has always been flying high in Domkal,” explained Sarifil Islam, a Gram Panchayat candidate of the Purba Kachumbari More area of Domkal. This area is terrorised immensely by the TMC prior to the elections. One of the most notorious areas of Domkal, the area now sees women being a part of the resistance to the one-man show of the TMC. In 2018, there was no voting in Domkal as opposition candidates were not allowed to file nominations. This year, after the planned action during the nomination filing process, Domkal sees a triangular fight between the CPI(M), Congress, and the TMC. NewsClick spoke with Khodabuksh Ahmad, a zilla parishad candidate of CPI(M), who said that this year there is a fair chance of him winning his ZP seat with a fair margin, as TMC is only indulging in terrorising the voters and not in any electioneering process.

NewsClick met with Jan Mohammad, a migrant labourer – a mason in Kerala's Aluva locality of Ernakulam district who came to his home to participate in the Panchayat polls. He gets Rs 1200 daily after working as a mason in Kerala. There he gets 30 days of work in a month. In Mamata Banerjee's West Bengal, the rate is Rs 350 per day. “And that, too, we do without work for most of the month. Who will stay in Bengal?” He asked and added it is to change this situation and to work for CPI(M) in the election he has come to his home in Domkal. He said proudly that his daughter Shara Khatun has just passed the Higher Secondary examination with the First Division. Another youth, Sabuj Khan, has passed the Upper Primary examinations for teachers but, due to corruption, has not got his job with the state's education department. He added that he has now opened a shop preparing rollers and shutters of shops in his home workshop and is maintaining his livelihood. "What has the government given us? Police raid unarmed youths for resisting TMC's armed goons. We are not armed. Only the number of our volunteers and their courage force the TMC hooligans to retreat," he said, talking to NewsClick. Kohinoor Bibi, a septuagenarian woman, talking to NewsClick in Domkal Kuchiabari More, said that the earlier Panchayat was a looter's Panchayat and she and her husband never got help in a government scheme despite their poor condition because they have been traditionally CPI(M) supporters. “My sons never got the job cards even to work in the 100 days work program, and this is the attitude of the earlier Panchayat where the members got elected fraudulently,” she added.