In Bengal hunger belt, comrades are the ones having a party

So while the CPM—and the government—attribute the deaths to ‘‘remoteness’’ of these villages, that hardly seems to have come in the way of the party’s fortunes here.

Consider these:

• Ram Sai Mandi, one of the biggest landholders in Amlasole-Kankrajhore, has 25-30 bighas—and his family is endowed with Below Poverty Line ration cards. Reason: A primary school teacher, he is a member of the CPM-affiliated All Bengal Primary Teachers’ Association and also a member of the powerful local committee of the CPM.

Despite repeated attempts, Mandi was unavailable for comment but several villagers—many of those affected by hunger and disease, told The Indian Express that he, along with a few other big landholders, controls whether they get to work or paid.

None of the five families where the deaths occurred had BPL ration cards and all were clueless how to get one or avail of the benefits of all Central anti-poverty schemes.

• Banamali Mura was an elected Panchayat member of the CPM for two terms and had to vacate the seat when it got reserved for women in 1998. In partnership with a comrade, Subash Manki, he now owns a jeep and runs a local transport business. In fact, for an average of Rs 500 for a return trip, he ferried the sick and the dying to the nearest hospital, 30 km away.

He also owns the area’s sole rice mill. Asked about his source of income, he declined to comment. But added: ‘‘What do I do when there is no job?’’

• The CPM’s local committee office in Belpahari, under which Amlasole and Kankrajhore fall—where the deaths occurred—is a sprawling 10,000 square feet complex with an L-shaped double-storied building of brick and reinforced concrete.

The ground floor has meeting rooms, an office, a ‘‘sitting room,’’ trade union wing and agricultural wing.

All members have access to sanitary latrines and drinking water from a tubewell. In sharp contrast, villagers in Amlasole-Kankrajhore use ponds and streams and open wells for drinking water—one reason behind the deaths and the disease. Also, none of the affected villagers has a brick house or is a beneficiary of the Indira Awas Yojana scheme under which the poor get pucca housing.

• Inside the party office, there’s electricity and even telephones—two things absent in both Amlasole and Kankrajhore.

• The party even has a standby generator for lights and fans when needed and particularly during peak evening hours when party functionaries are at work.

• There is another CPM office in nearby Binpur, about 10 km away. This, too, has electricity, telephone, chairs, benches, safe drinking water and latrines.

A senior party comrade, Dahar Sen, who is also the West Midnapore district Secretariat member—the two villages fall in this district—when asked about the difference in standards between the office and the village said: ‘‘The party’s assets in this region have not grown at par with other districts. Yet, whatever has been achieved came with much toil and hardship.’’