Keshpur: Memories smoulder in killing fields

The thermometer read 38 degree C, just two degrees less than Tuesday's temperature. But a day before the polls, the political temperature
in Keshpur was much less than normal: there was no sign of the usual excitement that is visible elsewhere in the state. The reason is not difficult to gauge: the Opposition just doesn't exist here. The only Trinamool Congress office at Neradeul is under lock and key.

The temperature may be low, but the fire that burnt hundreds of houses and killed many in this locality around a decade ago still smoulders. "They broke Baba's ribs with the butt of a gun, before shooting him in the chest," 40-year-old Puchan Dalai was saying her face expressionless, but tears rolling down the cheeks. Her father Mahendra Dalai and four others were killed in a Trinamool onslaught on their village, Madhupur, on January 25, 2000.

"At least 8,000 to 10,000 people descended on our village that morning," said local CPM leader Madan Mohan Maity. "The marauding mob came in trucks and Matadors from Amura, Berabara and Kaonsa. Armed with bows and arrows and guns and bombs, they went on a bloodletting spree."

They didn't even spare the old and the ailing, the villagers said. Mahendra was killed when he entered his room to take medicines. Centurion Indranarayan Panja bedridden and hapless was shot with an arrow, then burnt to death. His family, running for their own lives, couldn't carry him away.

Bijala Mallik (48) widow of Ranajit Mallik, said, "All of us were running even the cattle were running away with us. While on the run, I heard my husband shouting for help. I turned around and saw they were killing him. But we could not stop. We went to Chakulia, a few miles away, and spent the next eight days there, shivering under the open sky. We couldn't even take any woollens for our children. Finally, the party (CPM) helped us return and rebuild our houses."

shanti purna chunav ke liye taiyari puri

bihar me pahale charan me ho rahe chunav ki taiyari puri ho chuki hai. pahale charan me 16 April ko 13 loksabha kshetron ke liye chunav hona hai.

birendra yadav

बिहार सरकार में दो नए मंत्री शामिल

राज्यपाल आरएल भाटिया ने बुधवार को एक सादे समारोह में रेणु कुमारी और देवेश चंद्र ठाकुर को कैबिनेट मंत्री की शपथ दिलाई गई। रेणु देवी को कृषि और देवेश चंद्र ठाकुर को आपदा प्रबंधन मंत्री बनाया गया है।