Dwellers of erstwhile Indian enclaves, which merged with Bangladesh in 2015, but who are Indian citizens have decided not to support Trinamul in these Lok Sabha elections.

These disgruntled persons are around 1.5 lakh in number.

“Since the 1970s, we were forced to leave our ancestral land and homes in Bangladesh to stay in Indian enclaves. However, after the enclaves were exchanged, the government Bengal did nothing for our rehabilitation and helped only a few hundreds who came here just before the exchange in 2015. This is unfortunate as the Centre has paid around Rs 3,000 crore for rehabilitation,” said Ismail Mian, secretary of the Uttarbanga Chitmahal Udbastu Sangram Joutha Committee.

“We voted Trinamul in every election but this time we won't as a protest against the state’s apathy,” he added.

There were 111 Indian enclaves or landlocked patches of Indian territory in Bangladesh and 51 Bangladeshi enclaves in Cooch Behar district. On July 31, 2015, these enclaves mingled with the mainlands of India and Bangladesh and dwellers were offered the option of taking up new citizenship or retaining the old one.

Around 970 persons came from Bangladesh to India and the state government provided them accommodation and other facilities.

But earlier settlers said the state did nothing for thousands of other families who came from the 1970s. "We came from Indian enclaves of Bangladesh years ahead of the exchange,” said Jyotirmoy Roy, another member of the committee.

According to him, some 25,000 such families or around 1.5 lakh such voters stay in Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar districts.

“If the state doesn’t take any effective steps to rehabilitate us, we will not support Trinamul this time. If required, the state can communicate with the Centre, seeking additional funds for this purpose,” added Roy.

Jagadish Roy Pradhan, president of the committee, said that although thousands of people had enrolled their names with the administration as dwellers of erstwhile enclaves, only a few got compensation for land and immovable properties that they had to leave in Bangladesh.

“This proves most dwellers didn’t get any compensation. The state should mention it to the Centre,” Pradhan said.

Reacting to such assertions, while the BJP slammed Trinamul, the latter accused the BJP of misleading the dwellers.

“The Centre paid money to the Bengal government for the rehabilitation of enclave dwellers. We suspect the state spent the money on other expenses while being apathetic to these people,” said Bapi Goswami, the Jalpaiguri district BJP president.

Mahua Gope, Goswami's Trinamul counterpart, countered:
"The rehabilitation plan was executed jointly by the state and the Centre. As the Lok Sabha polls are ahead, the BJP is trying to mislead these people for votes.”