The village in North 24 Parganas district has been on the edge since last week after local residents went on a rampage demanding the arrest of Sheikh and his two aides – Shibu Prasad Hazra and Uttar Sardar. The protests saw women protesting outside local police station with broom and sticks alleging sexual harassment by TMC leaders.
The upheaval prompted sharp criticism from the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre and Opposition parties. Both Sheikh and Sardar are zilla Parishad members. While Sheikh is absconding, Sardar was arrested last week.
According to residents, the exploitation could be traced back to 2019 when Sheikh along with his followers started setting up fisheries in the area. Sheikh joined the TMC in 2013 and is North 24 Parganas’ ‘Matsa Karmadhakshya, that is, in-charge of the district’s fishery development. He owns a string of fishery units and brick kilns in the area, which falls under the Sunderbans.
“It was around the end of 2019 when some TMC leaders started grabbing agricultural land in the village. They told me that they will buy our 3.5 bighas and pay Rs 5,000 per bigha every year. They turned our land into a fishery but did not pay us. When my husband and I approached them, they threatened us,” said a 48-year-old woman who lives with her husband and son in Sandeshkhali. She was also among the women who protested against the TMC leaders last week.
Another local woman alleged that to protect the fisheries, a large number of youths on motorbikes used to visit the area. “TMC leaders like Sheikh and their supporters started grabbing land to set up fisheries. To operate and protect them, they hired a large number of youths who would come here on motorcycles. By early 2020, women used to get called to late night meetings. Some of us even faced sexual harassment,” said the woman, who is in her 30s and is married to a migrant labourer.
For those who didn’t sell their properties to the TMC leaders willingly, the latter reportedly had other ways to get them to agree. “To acquire land for fisheries, they promised to pay Rs 5,000 per bigha annually to the owners. Only a handful of people got the money and that too in the first year (2020). There were also families like ours who did not want to give our land as there was a standing crop growing on it. We had two bighas. They just pumped salt water into our fields and damaged the crop. Once salt water enters land, it’s rendered uncultivable for years. It happened during cyclone Aila (May 2009) and it took us years to get the land back to shape,” said an elderly woman resident of the village.
“They (TMC leaders) then dug up the soil using JCB machines and started setting up fishery there. We did not get even a penny,” said the woman, who is in her 60s.
A section of workers in the village claimed that they haven’t been able to take home full wages under MGNREGA since 2016 as they were forced to give a big chunk of it to TMC leaders.
“They used to call us to their party office when the wages under the 100 days’ work scheme were deposited in our bank accounts. They forced us to draw the whole amount and give it to them. Then, they used to give us Rs 500,” said a woman labourer belonging to the Scheduled Tribes community.
“They (Sheikh and his supporters) had also been taking the money we get under other social schemes. Many of us received money under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana but they took all of it. They only gave us 100 or 200 bricks and told us to build a house with them. When we tried to protest, they threatened that we would be socially boycotted. They also took Rs 1,500 rupees from families in the village for building toilets two years ago. However, the families didn’t see even a single toilet being built since then,” she added.
A 38-year-old labourer, said, “A few months ago, they took Rs 1,500 from many of us and promised to provide patta (land deed) for the land where we are living. Till date, we haven’t received any pattas.”
West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose, who visited Sandeshkhali on Monday, said he had received complaints against Sheikh and his “gang of anti-social elements”. In a statement released by the Raj Bhavan on February 12, these complaints included those of “torture and sexual harassment of women”, “land grabbing for prawn cultivation” and “letting sewage into the land of those who do not agree to part with their land for the gangsters and their henchmen”.
According to the statement, the TMC leaders allegedly “coerced hapless villagers to withdraw police complaints lodged by the victims to the police…”.
The ruling TMC has also admitted receiving complaints of land grabbing in Sandeshkhali and has promised action. However, it has denied charges of sexual harassment of women in the area.
“We have heard about such complaints from villagers. We have already suspended our party leader (Sardar). We have also decided that the local party unit will pay monetary compensation to those whose land was taken forcibly or without paying any money,” said West Bengal Irrigation Minister and TMC leader from North 24 parganas Partha Bhowmick.