Panchayat Elections in West Bengal have always been an event of tremendous anticipation and an apparent reflection of a change in the political litmus of Bengal. The first clear indication of the changing political scenario of Bengal has ever been reflected through Panchayat Elections. The mandate of the people brought about through elections at the grassroot, has seldom been free of violence and poll manipulations. For instance, in the 2018 Panchayat Elections, reportedly 34% of the gram panchayat seats went uncontested. This was thrice the seats won uncontested by the CPI(M) government i.e. 11% during the 2003 elections. The elections could be reflective of the undercurrents of democracy at the grassroot. However, people on the ground think otherwise. We spoke to certain resident voters in Nafarganj village in the Sundarbans, located at a distance of 90 km from Kolkata, to assess the issues of voters in rural Bengal.
“If panchayat elections are left untampered, BJP may win with a good margin this time,” said Gopal Biswas (name changed), a man in his 50s. We met him by the bank of the Matla River, just a few yards away from his shanty where he welcomingly invited us in. A farmer by profession, he spoke by and large about the state of agriculture, wage labour, and welfare in the village, marred with a high state of corruption in the gram panchayat and panchayat samitis in his own as well as neighbouring villages. His statement on the Panchayat Election was more of a satire rather than a desire. “The ruling party exercises bureaucratic control over the agricultural land. Last year, they took over my land, arbitrarily reaped the harvest and I was left with nothing” he said. He even obliged to answer our queries on the ownership of land in the village.
He mentioned that nobody in the village has been given documents of ownership of the agrarian property even when the land reforms took place under the Left Front Government. Thus, with every subsequent shift in the local and state government, the bureaucratic control of the land shifts. It is redistributed to the people in the good books of the local government while the actual owners, who in most cases are Schedule Tribes and Adivasis, are evicted from their lands.
The celebration of democracy at the grass root has always been a bloody business. Death is a common consequence. As per statistics, 76 people were killed during 2003 Panchayat Elections under the reign of the CPI(M). In the subsequent panchayat elections in 2008, 2013 and 2018, the death toll stood at 36, 39, and 29 respectively. Even as the results unfold this year, the death count has already reached 20 and fresh violence continues to erupt.
Speaking about the apparent corruption with regard to the PMAY(G), our interviewee said, “Cut money is the norm here. It ranges from Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 for PMAY (G) application.” However, he mentioned that many in the village have not received the benefit of the scheme despite having paid the “cut money.” Funds for PMAY(G) have gone into the accounts of those in the good books of the local leaders; most of them are ineligible to receive benefits under the scheme for already having pucca houses. As the conversation progressed, we were told that MGNREGA jobs in the village are an open eye-wash. “ MGNREGA job cards of a chunk of villagers are put up on the muster rolls while the actual lake restoration work is either not done at all or is done through JCB.” He also mentioned how the direct transfers in the account of the job card holders are threateningly extracted from them. “The wage in the area for a day’s work is Rs 400; the goons of the local leaders take Rs 300 and let the individual keep the rest” he mentioned. The resident villagers express their discontent over the corrupt policies of the panchayat samities that leads to the sale of grains at lower costs than the Minimum Support Price. The panchayat samities are empowered to buy crops directly from the farmers at the Minimum Support Price which is fixed at Rs. 2060 per quintal of paddy. However, as per the testimony of the villagers, the Panchayat Samiti at the village offers Rs. 1400 for every bag of paddy to the farmers they buy directly from, which does not exceed more than a select few. The majority of the farmers are forced to sell their produce to agrarian intermediaries who offer Rs. 800 to Rs. 900 per bag of paddy.
The panchayat samiti is accused of foul play to ensure that the chain of agrarian intermediaries remains in demand for which the local leaders receive a “cut” themselves. “We are barely able to meet the cost of production because of the systematic practice,” our man said.
The system in rural West Bengal paints a clear picture of deterministic and rigid systemic corruption and exploitation which is seemingly immune to parliamentary changes. As the results unfold in many certain and uncertain ways, we set our eyes on observing how the political litmus of the State changes and by how much.
