All that’s Left is not right for Didi’s goons

“About 8.30 pm, we heard bikes stopping in front of our gate and people shouting. Priti rushed out to see who it was and these people took out their sticks and hit her. She started bleeding, seeing this, they ran away,” said Basanti (39), who has since not sent her daughter to school.

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Priti’s grandfather, Amulya Bor, was the target of the Trinamool supporters, claimed Basanti. “It is a known fact that we are all CPM supporters. In the last five years, we haven’t voted because we have been repeatedly warned against it by Trinamool workers. This year, I felt I had to vote and look what happened,” said Amulya, who runs a small fishery business. The combined income of the seven-member family is Rs 8,000 per month, he added.

Priti only remembers the sound of the bikes and “a flash in front of her eyes”. “When I woke up, there was blood all over me… I was sacred,” she said.

Sovan Chatterjee, Kolkata mayor and Trinamool candidate from the Behala East, under which Haridevpur falls, visited the Bor residence on Monday. “It was a minor misunderstanding. The girl got accidentally hit when there was a clash between Trinamool and CPM workers near her home,” said Chatterjee.

A few houses away from the Bor residence is Gunodhar Mondol’s modest house that he shares with his daughter Sumitra Dhara and her husband. Mondal (61) was attacked by the same mob on April 30. “They came straight from Amulya Bor’s house to mine. I was targeted because I was the CPM polling agent in our local booth,” he said. Mondol, who has his left arm covered in bandage added: “I have been a CPM worker for 30 years. Never have I been thrashed like this before.”

Sumitra (29) had tried to stop the mob from entering the house. “The mob was headed by Sarbeshwar Mondol, who is the Trinamool block president. I couldn’t believe my eyes. There were about 40 to 50 men. I knew most of them as they are from our locality… people I would wish every day on my way to work. These people were now baying for my father’s blood,” she said.

Besides Sarbeshwar Mondol, two others — Subrata Banerjee and Jahar Banerjee — were arrested the next day. But prime accused Paresh Patra, who Basanti said hit Priti, is at large. “These people were released on bail the next day,” said Gunodhar.

These weren’t the only cases of post-poll violence in South Kolkata and its suburbs. Less than 10 km away from Haridevpur, in Ganguly Bagan, another family of a CPM worker was allegedly attacked by a Trinamool mob.

The Majumdar residence, a two-storeyed building, is just opposite the Ward 101 office of Kolkata Municipal Corporation, which falls under Jadavpur constituency. Kamal Majumdar (45), a building contractor who has been a CPM supporter most of his adult life, lives here with his wife Ruma (41), father Nityalal (87) and son Arnab (15).

At the courtyard of the house, shards of glass have been swept to a side. “Had you come yesterday, you wouldn’t have been able to walk here,” said Ruma, who was home along with her son and father-in-law when the house was attacked on April 30 night.

“We have been targeted by Trinamool since the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. They pelted stones at our house even then,” said Ruma.

However, nothing prepared her for the “horror of that night”. “We had finished dinner and were watching television. My husband was outside… Around 10.30 pm, we heard a commotion . We went to the verandah and saw a mob of about 100 young men with rods and sticks calling my husband’s name,” she said.

“What followed was complete mayhem. They climbed to the verandah and broke our windows,” Ruma added, pointing to the windows of her house covered only with newspaper.

Kamal, who was barely a kilometre away when his house was at siege, was attacked too. “I was beaten up by a group of people who I know are Trinamool workers… The police arrived 30 minutes after the mob had left,” said Kamal, who has sustained injuries on his chest and arm. When contacted, the Patuli OC Abhijit Ghosh refused to comment.

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