Panchayat polls: Chatra’s borderlands an island of peaceful coexistence

Chatra (WB): In a state where political workers are busy maligning each other and at times clashing with rivals, Chatra, a village near the international border with Bangladesh, is an island of “peaceful coexistence” even though all the three major parties are fighting the rural polls here.

Instead of the high decibel campaign elsewhere, the sitting BJP member of Chatra village panchayat, who is a candidate in this election too, was found happily having an ‘adda’ (informal agenda-less conversation) with supporters of his rival party TMC in the village square with just a few hours to go for campaigning to end on Thursday.

Relations between politicians in this village, situated barely 10-15 kilometres from the Bangladesh border in Baduria block of North 24 Parganas district, are so good that a CPI(M) candidate called up a TMC leader to help this correspondent connect with him.

But that does not stop Subrata Bala, the CPI(M) candidate, from accusing the TMC of making hay while the sun shines.

"The TMC, which won the Chatra panchayat in 2018, has looked after a few people only, leaving most in the lurch," he claimed.

Admitting that there were some black sheep among its panchayat members, TMC local president Apurba Roy said that out of 14 who won on the party's ticket in the 26-member Chatra panchayat, six have not been given tickets this time around.

"Some had grown greedy. The party never supports such behaviour and have replaced them with new faces," he said, maintaining that the party has fielded several educated people in the panchayat, which has a fair share of white collar job holders as also a good percentage of farmers.

Stating that he had no problem working in the TMC-led panchayat from 2018, BJP member Binoy Boral said political differences did not affect personal relations among people here.

Asked why he was chatting around when campaigning was to end in a few hours, Boral said "What is the need, people of the village know me and my work, decision is in their hands now." His elder brother's wife Nilima Roy Boral is one of his opponents as an independent, Boral said, claiming that she lost to him in 2018 as a TMC candidate.

"However, there is no animosity among any family members over our different political allegiances," he said.

Subhas Das, a tea shop owner, said that there have been a lot of changes in the area over the past decade.

"There was a time when we had to wade through knee-deep slush during monsoons, but now there are concrete village roads and the main road passing through the area is wide and smooth," he said.

Paritosh Mondal, a vegetable seller in the local market and also a TMC worker, did not, however, seem happy with the party leadership.

"My family has not got anything even as those who have houses got funds for housing and also after the Amphan super cyclone," he lamented.

CPI(M) candidate Bala claimed that the Left, which had been wiped out in the panchayat in the last two elections in 2013 and 2018, is slowly regaining ground.

"I can't say for sure that we will win here this time, but will certainly be a force to reckon with," he said.

Chatra appeared to have a good mix of white-collar workers who commuted to Kolkata everyday and farmers with small land holdings.

However, villagers working in the big city have pumped in money here and the typical look of a hamlet has been replaced by plush houses which gives the place the air of an urbane settlement but for the lush green paddy fields and orchards peeping out from behind the houses.

While the main roads are metalled, the lanes and bylanes are of concrete.

The poll fever evident in many parts of the state was typically absent here, people went about their work and students attended school like any other day.

Only the banners and flags of political parties, a few e-rickshaws with speaker mikes playing slogans were proof that an election was in the offing. While incidents of violence and killing have been reported from various other places in the state since the announcement of the panchayat polls, this has been an oasis of peace.

Pointing to a tree from whose branches flags of different parties were fluttering amid gusts of wind and rain, tea shop owner Subhas Das said this village is like that tree where people of every hue coexist peacefully.