Siliguri, July 25: A partially
paralysed septuagenarian rickshaw-puller who was pestered by alleged
Trinamul activists and taken to a polling booth this afternoon fell ill
while in the queue and died of a suspected cardiac arrest.
Seventy-five-year-old Mahendra Burman’s wife and daughter blamed a Trinamul quartet for the death.
When party
activists were asked why an elderly, ailing man was pushed to go out
and vote, an account of Trinamul desperation in the face of factional
feud tumbled out.
Trinamul
supporters said the party had fielded an outsider for this Jalpaiguri
zilla parishad seat. Angered at this, local Trinamul activists fielded
two among them as Independents. The Jaleswari seat has around 2,000
voters, which meant every vote would count for the candidates, Trinamul
or rebel.
Mahendra’s wife
Malati said the Trinamul four — three women and an unidentified man —
kept pestering her husband for 20 minutes to vote, saying it was
important for the win.
“My husband used
to work as a rickshaw-puller and also a day labourer. Over the past
three-four years, he had grown weak after the left side of his body got
paralysed following a heart attack. Of late, he was staying at home and
was too ill to come out,” said Malati, who earns a living as a
construction worker.
Mahendra used to stay indoors, she said.
The couple have two daughters, Bulbuli who is married and Poli who is in school.
“Today, I went to
the booth in Thakurnagar and gave my vote. Around 11.30am, three women
and a man, all Trinamul workers, came to our hut,” Malati said.
“They asked my
husband to go with them and vote. My husband said he is ill and
paralytic and refused to go to the booth,” she added.
According to Malati and Bulbuli, the quartet kept insisting and after 20 minutes Mahendra went out with them.
“He was not
willing to go, particularly because of the heat but had to listen to
them as they went on insisting. He finally went,” Malati said.
Mahendra fell ill
while standing in the queue. Sources said he was a voter of the 178/1
booth in Dabgram-II panchayat area of Rajganj block in Jalpaiguri
district, a place close to Siliguri town.
“I was
apprehensive that his health may deteriorate and so I left for the booth
after some time. When I reached there, I came to know that my husband
had fallen ill and has been provided a chair inside the booth. I went
and gave him water. He was shivering and soon convulsed and became
still,” Malati said.
Seeing that
Mahendra has become unconscious, Trinamul workers persuaded a police
patrolling team nearby to take him to Siliguri district hospital, about
5km from the booth. Malati accompanied him.
Bulbuli also reached the hospital.
“He was rushed to the emergency but a doctor examined him and declared him dead,” Malati said.
A doctor said: “It
seems that he has died of cardiac arrest. However, the cause of death
can be confirmed only after the post-mortem.”
Sitting in the
hospital, Malati blamed the Trinamul workers. “He had repeatedly refused
to go out with them. I had also asked them to leave him alone. They,
however, took him to the booth almost forcibly and it led to his death,”
she said.
The three women, who had gone to Mahendra’s house were identified by the family as Laxmirani Mondal, Basanti Das and Gita Roy.
“All are Trinamul workers,” Bulbuli said.
Subhash Roy, a
local Trinamul worker of Jaleswari, said: “We have over 2,000 voters in
the Jalpaiguri zilla parishad seat in Dabram II block and adjoining
areas. When the Trinamul candidate was selected, he was not a local like
us but an outsider, a resident of Buniadpur in South Dinajpur
district.”
Roy said this
prompted “us to field two Independent candidates, as several workers
like us, who have worked for the party over years, were disappointed
with the selection. As two Independent candidates were fielded, party
leaders and workers backing the outsider turned desperate to garner
every possible vote to secure a win of the official candidate.”
The Jalpaiguri zilla parishad was held by the Left, which had 32 of the 34 seats. The Congress held the other two.
Roy later called
up the block development officer of Rajganj and informed him of
Mahendra’s death. No police complaint has been filed yet.
Minister Gautam
Deb, in whose Assembly constituency Jaleswari falls, said the incident
was “unfortunate”. “The person was already ill and died in the booth.
Regarding the allegation against some of our workers, we will surely
check if it is correct,” he said.
फोर्सले दिल्लीको कन्स्टीट्सूसन क्लबमा एउटा
राष्ट्रीय सङ्गोष्टीको आयोजना गरेको थियो। पूर्व लोकसभा स्पीकर पीए संगमाको
सभापतित्वमा सम्पन्न भएको उक्त सङ्गोष्टीमा देशमा अलग राज्यको माग गरिरहेका
क्षेत्रहरु बोडोल्याण्ड, त्रिपूरा, बुन्देलखण्ड
लगायत तेलङ्गना आन्दोलनका जनप्रतिनिधिहरु उपस्थित थिए। अलग राज्यको माग प्रति देशमा
राष्ट्रीयस्तरको मत सङ्ग्रह गरि सरकारमाथि छुट्टै राज्य निर्माणको निम्ति चाप
सृष्टी गर्नु नै उक्त सङ्गोष्टीको उदेश्य थियो। सङ्गोष्टीमा गोटाफो सचिव मुनीश
तामाङले हालको परिस्थितिमा देशमा नयाँ राज्य गठन गर्नाले देशको भलाई हुने कुरामाथि
जोड दिएका थिए। सङ्गोष्टीमा एनसीपीका सचिव डी पी त्रिपाठी, बीजेपी सांसद
चन्दन मित्रा,बीजेपी सचिव तापिर गऊ ,बरिस्ट पत्रकार
बी जी वेर्घेस,सी पी आई एम् एलका कविता कृष्णन आदिले उपस्थित
प्रतिनिधिहरुलाई सम्बोधन गर्दै देशको उन्नतीको निम्ति नयाँ राज्यहरु बनिनु पर्ने
मत राखेका थिए। दिल्लीमा
सम्पन्न सङ्गोष्टिमा गोर्खाल्याण्ड गठन लगायत देशमा अन्य स-साना राज्य गठनको पक्षमा चर्चा गरिएको गोटाफोका राष्ट्रिय सचिव मुनि, तामाङ्गले
बताएका छन्| दिल्लीबाट टेलिफोनिक कुराकानीमा गोटाफोका तामाङ्गले बताएअनुसार, भारतमा नयॉं राज्य गठनको पक्षमा
सङ्गोष्टिमा धेरै चर्चा परिचर्चा भएपछि महत्वपूर्ण
प्रस्तावहरू ग्रहण गरिएको छ| भारत सरकारले
नयॉं राज्य गठनको मागलाई धेरै गम्भिरतासाथ लिएको छैन| अलग राज्यको मागलाई भारत सरकारले गम्भिरतापूर्वक लिएर नयॉं नीति निर्माण गर्नुपर्ने प्रस्ताव लिएको छ| यसबाहेक,
अलग
राज्यको निम्ति भइरहेका आञ्चलिक
आन्दोलनहरूलाई राष्ट्रिय रुप दिनु आवश्यक छ| यसैलै यी आन्दोलनहरूलाई लिएर राष्ट्रिय जनआन्दोल गर्ने पनि सङ्गोष्टिमा आम
सहमति भएको छ| ‘अबको अलग राज्यको आन्दोलन
दिल्लीमुखी हुन आवश्यक छ| यसैले चॉंडै राष्ट्रिय
जनआन्दोलन शुरु गर्ने प्रस्ताव पनि आज लिइएको हो’-तामाङ्गले भने|
