A surge of saffron, a reaffirmation of secularism, the familiar and the not-so-familiar sights of Howrah.

Election day Howrah was a testament to change, hope and many things that refuse to change.

Metro criss-crossed Howrah city and spoke with voters. Some of the vignettes from the V-day in Howrah.

‘Jai Shree Ram’ flags

The campus of Bengal’s oldest engineering college was wrapped in saffron banners, saffron flags and images of Ram and Hanuman. There were three polling booths on the Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST) campus in Shibpur.

As voters went through the gate on College Road, the overwhelming presence of saffron was hard to miss.

Just outside the gate, there were voter assistance booths set up by the Trinamool Congress and the CPM but the BJP was missing.

“The banners were put up on Thursday afternoon. I suspect some IIEST employees put them up. Similar flags and banners were put up all over the campus during an RSS rally,” said a student.

Another student said: “It looks out of place for a campus of this stature. It is an attempt at polarisation. Campuses should be left out of such attempts.”

Both students requested anonymity.

Secular Society

Not far from the IIEST campus stands a club that was born out of a quest to live in harmony.

Secular Society is an unconventional name for a neighbourhood club. It was set up in 1990 by people who felt various communities and faiths could live together in peace and harmony.

“The club was named so by its founders because this is a cosmopolitan area. There are Hindus and Muslims, there are Bengali-speaking people and Hindi-speaking people, mostly from Bihar. We want peace and togetherness.
The club was set up with these ideals,” said Mohammad Rafique, 48.

Communalism in mainstream politics had begun to rear its head in 1990, the year L.K. Advani took out his Rath Yatra and riots were reported from several states. Babri Masjid was demolished two years later.

Thirty-two years on, Secular Society is still relevant. More so because of its location — Kajipara crossing. Clashes broke out 1km from here during Ram Navami in 2023. “Our neighbourhood was quiet then, it is so even now,” said Dilip Ghosh, a club member.

Colour-coded booths

If there was saffron, there were also blue-and-white voter assistance booths set up by the Trinamool Congress.

All Trinamool voter-assistance booths on that stretch of Shibpur had blue and white, a colour combination that has become synonymous with the party. They did not have any party flag.

The Trinamool-run state government’s love for blue and white is well known. Flyover guardrails to government offices, most public structures bear the colour code.

The CPM’s booths on this stretch of Shibpur had multi-coloured umbrellas. “We embrace people of all creeds and cultures. That is why we have multi-coloured umbrellas,” said one party worker.

Saline bottle in hand

Kavita Jhajharia, 51, came to vote at a booth in Ramkrishnapur Lane with a saline channel fitted in her left hand. A homemaker, she has been on saline for the past three days.

“I am suffering from a bout of food poisoning. I thought I won’t go to vote, but my husband egged me on to go,” she said. “’Every vote is important,’ he told me.”

The police let Kavita and her husband Ram Kumar jump the queue and vote. “We did not have to wait despite there being a queue,” she said.

‘Awful’ civic services

First-time voter Kirtika Jain, 20, knew that general elections were about national issues. But she could not stop speaking about how poor civic services are in Howrah.

“This road has heaps of garbage lying on it always. It was cleared only a few days ago because of political rallies but the garbage has again started accumulating,” said Kirtika, who has secured a berth to study MBA at XLRI Jamshedpur.

Many others also said civic services had hit rock bottom in Howrah. Piles of garbage could be seen across the city.

“I want development, progress. I do not want religion and politics to get mixed,” Kirtika said. “I am also eager to see that the National Education Policy is implemented.”

Missing taxis

A long line of passengers was waiting at the taxi stand outside the new terminal of Howrah station but taxi there was none.

A taxi arrived every two-three minutes and was taken in no time. “Three long-distance trains arrived within 30 minutes and all taxis left with passengers,” said a man at the taxi booth.

There were taxis outside the old terminal but a long queue of passengers waited there too.