Bengal’s Birbhum becomes a bomb bastion in the battle for Bengal

Mangalore Today News Network

Apr 28, 2016: It’s election season in West Bengal, and this time the battle for ballot in the state will be won through the bullet in it’s constituency of Birbhum - a district which has become a bastion for bomb makers. The saga is not limited to Birbhum alone. It will continue in different districts of the state in the days to come.

An India Today special report shows how men from all across the state have come up to make bombs and earn anywhere between 10,000 to 40,000 per day. As the election day nears, even the price and the risk involved in bomb making get higher. Although, the bomb makers are scared for their lives, but money drives them to take up this dangerous assigment.

"Yes, we are scared for our lives but we need the money too. If we can make around 100-120 bombs, we get around Rs 20-30,000 for them. We have guns, crude bombs and several other such arms," says bomb maker Ismail.

As the election season hots up and the battle for Bengal becomes deadly, it’s not just the sounds of election that are reverberating through the state. The election din is frequently disrupted by bomb blasts. It is also a daily feature in Nanoor and surrounding areas. Nanoor, with some 20 political clashes over the last year, was the "most disturbed constituency" in the state in the run-up to the 2016 Assembly polls.

The bomb makers of Birbhum do not merely have explosives, but huge cache of arms looted from local police stations or bought from the black market in cash. Many times these bomb makers perish in fighting between two political factions.

Though, the opposition parties have made a hue and cry about Birbhum’s bomb factories in the past, but in most cases it is only limited to election rhetoric. The state administration too has turned a blind eye. There no fear of the law.

Earlier, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee blamed the Left front of scientific rigging and booth capturing but with the huge amount of ammunition being prepared in her regime it has now triggered a bigger political blame-game. It is now up to the election commission to provide a safety to the voters going to the polling booths, without threat and terror.