Dialling governor for help: Inside Bengal Raj Bhavan’s ‘peace room’ assisting poll violence victims

From threats and murder to complaints of vandalism, the “peace room” has received all types of complaints and cries for help these past few weeks; and from across the state — the calls have come in from Murshidabad and Malda in north Bengal to South 24 Parganas and Nadia in the south. According to an estimate provided by the team led by Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to the Governor, Sandeep Rajput, the Peace Room has received 8,000 complaints to date. The team functions out of a room on the first floor of the colonial-era building and continues to be a source of hope for many.

“There are eight people in our team, directly monitored by the Honourable Governor. We are working 24×7. An exclusive email id, osd2w.b.governor@gmail.com, has been created so that people can email their grievances,” said a member of the Peace Room. One of the helplines that the Raj Bhavan has set up is (033) 22001641.

From threats and murder to complaints of vandalism, the “peace room” has received all types of complaints and cries for help these past few weeks. (File)

When people call the helpline number, their complaints are noted down along with details such as the name of their village, constituency, and alternative contact numbers. But many a time, according to people working in the peace room, the callers are too scared to divulge their names and other identifiable details and request the Raj Bhavan to ensure that the police act to stop violence in their area.

Rajput routinely compiles the grievances, which are then forwarded to the State Election Commission (SEC) or the local administration if immediate action is required. Sometimes, the governor himself steps in, according to a member of the team. Last week, a resident of North 24 Parganas dialled the peace room and said he had taken shelter at a relative’s home since he filed his nomination papers for the polls and was afraid of being killed if he returned home. Two days later, the governor called him back and assured him of action, said a staff manning the helpline in the room.

“There was a call from the husband of a panchayat poll candidate who said he and his family had been gheraoed. He was afraid they would be killed. We assured him we would help. Afterwards, he called back to say that the local police escorted him to the police station and that his family was safe. He later visited the Raj Bhavan to express his thanks. I remember his words: ‘Aap logo ki wajah se humari jaan bachh gayi (Thanks to you, our lives were saved),’” said Rajput.

The OSD to the Governor added, “The peace room was opened for the panchayat polls but the kind, and volume, of complaints we are receiving made us extend it further. We continue to receive calls even today. On average, we are receiving 100 to 180 complaints daily. Sometimes it crosses 250 to 300 calls a day. On counting day, too, we received several complaints.”

It is not just the workers and supporters of Opposition parties, members of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), the ruling party, have also sought help from the Raj Bhavan control room. “We are getting complaints from all parties, including the TMC. In fact, some of the calls have come from MPs and MLAs,” said Rajput.

The TMC, however, has not taken kindly to Bose’s step to set up the helplines. It has insinuated in preceding weeks that the “peace room” is part of a strategy to discredit the image of the state government and that a governor has no role to play after elections are announced. TMC MP Santanu Sen said Friday, “The governor isn’t concerned about TMC workers being killed. Bengal doesn’t need any such peace room. The governor has been acting as a BJP spokesperson. He has been acting as a chairman of the alliance of the CPM, the BJP, the Congress, and the ISF and that is why he is doing things beyond his constitutional mandate. He is doing things beyond his jurisdiction to please the BJP to get something in return, just like Jagdeep Dhankar.”

BJP MP Dilip Ghosh lauded Bose for being proactive and said people had “welcomed his unique and good initiative to prevent violence in the state. “He is doing what the state government or the SEC should have done. The governor is a great administrator and the public is happy with his proactiveness.”

State Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, however, claimed the Governor’s efforts were futile. “The governor ultimately has to depend on the state government or the SEC to act on the complaints, so the efforts are futile.”