As India gears up for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, there are 130 Indian families residing in 11 villages outside the fences of the India-Bangladesh international border near Assam’s Karimganj and Cachar who are eagerly waiting for political leaders to visit their villages and address their problems. The polling in Karimganj and Silchar (Cachar) will be held on April 26, and these families are determined to cast their votes.
These families, despite being Indian citizens, face unique challenges due to their geographical location outside the fenced border area. They have to cross the fencing daily for their basic needs such as buying food items, accessing education and health facilities, and even for work.
Despite their struggles, these families remain on their ancestral lands because they have nowhere else to go. Most of them are financially backward and cannot afford to buy land within India. They feel forgotten by the mainland and long for attention from political leaders during election campaigns, even if the promises made are not fulfilled after the elections.
One resident, Bipul Namasudra from Gobindapur, expressed their disappointment: “We see meetings, rallies, and massive celebrations surrounding the election on mainland India, and we dream of it too. We want to see leaders coming to our houses with promises, even if they don’t fulfill them after the election.”
The Border Security Force (BSF) is aware of the situation and has taken steps to provide security to these families. However, a proposal to construct an additional fence to bring these villages within Indian territory was canceled due to internalreasons.
Local Congress MLA Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha has visited the villages in the past and tried to address their issues. He has raised the matter in the assembly and written letters to the central government. He plans to discuss it with the Assam CM after this year’s general elections.
The President of Karimganj BJP, Subrata Bhattacharjee, acknowledged that they provided food and medicine to these families during the COVID-19 outbreak and the 2022 floods. However, he believes that a permanent solution is needed.
The residents of these villages have a simple request: they want to be remembered and included in the political discourse. They want their voices to be heard and their problems to be addressed. As the election campaigns intensify, they hope that their wait for political attention will finally come to an end.
