Wound still raw for Marichjhapi survivors
KADAMBAGACHHI: ShantiSarkar applies sindoor and fondly touches her 'sankha' (bangle made of conchshell), the symbols worn by every married Hindu woman. She has been doing this religiously, every day, for the past 34 years. And hoping that one day, her husband will step off a boat and come back, with their son. The last time she saw them was on January 31, 1979, tumbling off a boat in a hail of bullets and screams in Sunderbans' Marichjhapi island. Her son was seven years old.
On Thursday, about 250 survivors of the "Marichjhapi massacre" gathered in front of a few faded photographs, a makeshift memorial of sorts, near Kadambagachhi station to remember a day the world chose to forget. At 4pm, they lit candles. A few sobs broke the silence. This was when the firing had started.
The state government steadfastly denies there was any firing at Marichjhapi, far less a "massacre". But activists fighting for the survivors claim that the police forces of the newly set up Left Front government fired on refugees from East Pakistan in Marichjhapi on the evening of January 31, 1979, to push them back.
About 60,000 people had taken refuge on the island and were asked by the government to vacate it. "The refugees were taken in by the Left Front's poll promises and had come over from the rehabilitation centre provided by the Centre in Dandakaranya (Odisha)," said Debabrata Biswas, who is campaigning for the survivors.
The refugees used to bring drinking water, foodgrains and medicines from Kumirmari village across the Korankhali river, but the police enforced a blockade. "The island was heavily guarded by 30-36 launches, packed with policemen and party cadres. We were not even allowed to get water from Kumirmari. They planned to make our life miserable. We started eating coconut leaves and grass (jadu palang). Many children died of green diarrhoea. On the 10th day of the blockade, we were desperate and tried to go to Kumirmari to bring water, food and medicine. We sent 16 women in a boat, thinking they won't harm women. But a launch - Indrajit MV79 - sped towards the boat and rammed it. We could save 14 from drowning and later found the other two in the Bagnan forest office. They had been molested," said Narayan Mondal, a survivor.
Then came the tear gas. Volley after volley, the survivors say. "The salty river water was a boon. It washed off the gas," said Narayan, who was 24 then. "We sharpened 'goran' tree branches into spears but it was an unequal fight. Around 3.30pm, we saw the police advancing in force. Soon, the firing started. Many of us were killed. They took the dead bodies to different places, some were dumped in tiger land," said Narayan, who says he escaped by swimming across Korankhali river, braving crocodiles and bullets.
Seventy-year-old Mukunda Mondal's account almost echoes Narayan's. "It was 4pm when police started firing on us. We were trying to flee to Kumirmari in a boat. There was utter panic. My granddaughter was only eight. She was shot and died in the boat. We had no choice but to float her down the river," he said, wiping away tears. "How helpless we were. The girl would be a lady of 40 years now, perhaps a mother."
That wasn't the end of it. "Some survivors stayed on in the island but on May 16, the cadres stormed Marichjhapi with police assistance and set the huts of 300 families on fire. They were then packed off to camps in Malkangiri (Odisha), Mana and Kurut (Chhattisgarh), Bastar (Madhya Pradesh) and Adilabad (Uttar Pradesh). Some were scattered in various places of Bengal like Kadambagachhi, Malatipur, Barasat, Burdwan and Ghutiarishariff. We are trying to persuade the present government to rehabilitate the 2,000 families enlisted with us and the 4,000 that have not been traced," said Narayan Mondal.
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