Villagers Reclaim Playground from Trinamul Strongman in Sandeshkhali Uprising

Torn apart by strife On Thursday, hundreds of villagers in Sandeshkhali watched a people's movement in which they reclaimed a century-old playground that Sheikh Shahjahan, the strongman of Trinamul, had taken over around two years before, depriving the kids of their right to play there.

The locals "freed up" the area by playing football, planting plants along the boundary wall, and announcing that Shahjahan's reign of terror was coming to an end as local Trinamul MLA Sukumar Mahata and police watched.

Nitai Mondal, a peasant in his early 60s, stated, "The plot was donated and later named Rishi Aurobindo Mission Maidan by the erstwhile jamidars of Sandeshkhali."

"In November 2022, Shahjahan's troops took control of the area under the guise of a football competition. The "Sheikh Shahjahan Fan Club" then took ownership of the land and sealed the main gate. Our kids no longer have the right to play there.

"But we got it back today," he said. For Shahjahan, this is the beginning of the end. We've had enough.

The police, together with Mahata, attempted to contain the political fallout by covering Shahjahan's name on the boundary wall, giving footballs to the kids, and hanging balloons from the main gate.

On Thursday, kids play on the recovered land in Sandeshkhali.
Image courtesy of Sanat Kr Sinha
Children and adults had started congregating outside the stadium around 8 a.m., demonstrating their will to retake the space as a symbolic act of defiance against Shahjahan's authority. Soon after, more people started to show up, and the total increased to between 150 and 200.

The police and the ruling class chose to follow the public's lead when the villagers burst the main gate's lock and went underground.

Footballs, balloons, and jerseys for the kids were brought to the scene by Mahata and top police officials, among them Hossain Mehedi Rahman, the superintendent of the Basirhat police district. Rahman and Mahata were both seen playing football with the children.

"Why didn't they come sooner to whitewash Shahjahan's name and turn over the ground to us?" questioned Mita Pramanik, a neighbor living near the playground.

"We were terrified that Uttam Sardar and Shibu Shib Prasad Hazra, who were Shahjahan's aides, would transform the land into another bheri," she said.

"The MLA and the police knew that our rights over the ground had been taken away," Pramanik said. They did not come to supervise our kids as they played outside. They only arrived today to seize the glory after we had retaken the area.

A number of villages informed this reporter that they were grateful to the media for drawing attention to the fact that individuals supported by the governing party, such as Shahjahan and his associates, had stolen villagers' land and molested women.

The thugs were forced to run away as a result of the media's intense scrutiny. A middle-aged schoolteacher who wished to remain anonymous said, "We felt this was the best opportunity to reclaim the ground and send out the message that we are free from Shahjahan's clutches."

Since a crowd stormed an Enforcement Directorate team that had come to search Shahajahan's residence in relation to the PDS fraud, Sandeshkhali has been in the headlines. Since then, Hazra and Sardar have been detained on a number of accusations, including gang rape, but Shahjahan has remained at large.

After the terrain was recaptured, there was a tangible feeling of joy and liberation in the air, but several locals were cautious, unsure of how long their newfound independence would continue.

They have a great deal of power. Pramanik said, "We have seen how Shahjahan had total power over the police; he could do whatever he wanted.

She claimed that around two kilometers distant, an old football field had been converted into a bheri by Shahjahan.

An old villager said that three years ago, the 1940s-era Abhijan Sangha playground was taken over and converted into a bheri, with everyone too scared to voice their objections.

Back when I was little, I used to play there. The stunning football field, where teams from Calcutta used to go and play in a competition, was saved by a group of locals, according to Shibu Das, a 76-year-old farmer who gave The Telegraph a tour of the football field converted into a heri.

They injected salinized water into the earth in defiance of our advice. We were afraid to object.

Following the morning's rebellion, Mahata attempted to protect the runaway as rumors of Shahjahan's crimes continued to circulate.

Nobody had taken control of the terrain. The outside wall was painted with Shahjahan's name since he organized a football competition bearing his own name, the MLA said.

The peasants discounted his account of what had happened.

"If Shahjahan had not captured the ground, why did the police and the MLA take the pains to whitewash the wall and remove his name?" a villager asked this publication.

Mahata said, "Shahjahan's name should have been removed after the tournament," when asked the same question. We took action because it was providing some politically motivated locals with a pretext to accuse him of stealing land.

However, a Trinamul leader in Calcutta said that the act of erasing Shahjahan's name off the wall was a part of an attempt to reclaim the ground the party had lost due to individuals such as him.

"The party seeks to limit the harm that the accused has caused. The head of the party said, "Party officials have been requested to visit with each of the angry locals and record the specifics of their complaints.

In order to resolve the complaints, our high leadership is requesting thorough reports from the region since the BJP is hoping to take advantage of Sandeshkhali in the lead-up to the Lok Sabha elections.

It became clear on Thursday that carrying out this strategy, developed by party strategists seated in Calcutta, would be difficult: As they started knocking on people's homes, Mahata and a few local Trinamul officials felt the rage of the populace.

"What brought you here today? When our land was taken, where were you? Why were we tortured by your leaders? questioned a lady who had a towel over her face.

In an attempt to appease the locals, Mahata and other Trinamul officials asked them to "keep faith" with Mamata Banerjee and the party.

A lady in her early 50s named Kamal Dey Kayal remarked, "We want Didi to come and listen to us."

Senior officials including ministers Partha Bhowmik and Sujit Bose will visit Sandeshkhali and greet the locals at their doorsteps, according to a Trinamul source. The chief minister would thereafter make a visit.

The party does not want the sins of a few number of individuals to benefit the BJP politically. We'll do all in our power to allay the public's worries," the insider said.

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Press Time staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.