Just a month has passed since the new government took charge in Bengal, but for many ordinary people, life already feels different.
There is a strange heaviness in the air. In many localities across Kolkata and nearby districts, conversations have changed. People now speak in lowered voices about bulldozers, notices, documents, demolitions, verification drives, central forces, tribunals, and police action. Fear has quietly entered homes that were already struggling to survive.
Some may call this strong governance. But for many poor and middle-class families, it feels less like governance and more like living under constant uncertainty.
Nobody is asking for lawlessness. Nobody is saying unsafe buildings or encroachments should continue forever. But when action suddenly comes after decades and falls mainly upon the weakest sections through bulldozers, police, and central forces, people naturally feel helpless and targeted.
It is the poor tenant, the hawker, the small trader, the daily wager, the old couple living in one tiny room, and the family that spent its lifetime savings on a few hundred square feet who suddenly find themselves standing on the road, watching their homes or livelihoods disappear.
Many of these homes may appear small, crowded, dark, or poorly built to outsiders. But inside these tiny, ill-lit rooms, children studied late into the night under weak bulbs, dreaming of a better future. Parents spent years sacrificing small comforts to slowly build those walls brick by brick. For countless families, these structures were not merely constructions. They were the result of an entire lifetime of struggle, savings, sacrifice, and hope.
Who Allowed This? Accountability Fears Spark Public Anger
And people are asking a very painful question.
If these constructions were illegal, then who allowed them all these years? Who approved electricity connections? Who collected taxes and trade licence fees? Who looked away while floors kept increasing year after year? These buildings did not rise in one night. They slowly emerged over decades before the eyes of local administrations, councillors, civic authorities, and political leaders.
In fact, many of these constructions happened during the years when the present Chief Minister himself was part of the earlier TMC establishment. If the system remained silent for decades, can the entire punishment now suddenly fall only upon poor residents, labourers, tenants, and small shopkeepers?
Kolkata Bulldozer Action: Families Lose Lifelong Savings
The demolitions in Topsia after the tragic factory fire became one of the first major signs of this new atmosphere. Soon after the incident, bulldozers entered congested neighbourhoods, and demolition work began on structures declared unauthorised. Residents watched helplessly as police and central forces sealed off areas.
Again and again, building owners and residents pleaded that their ownership papers, documents, valuables, and belongings were still inside. Many claimed they were not even given enough time to retrieve these items before demolition began. These papers are their entire existence. Losing them means years of running from office to office, humiliation, uncertainty, and helplessness.
Station Eviction Drives Strip Hawkers of Daily Earnings
Around railway stations, too, large anti-encroachment drives began. Near Howrah, Sealdah, Dum Dum, Baruipur, Ranaghat, and many other places, stalls and roadside structures were removed in the name of beautification and restoring public movement.
But for many hawkers, these were not merely stalls occupying public space. They were the only source of livelihood for entire families. A tea stall, a fruit cart, a small food counter, or a plastic-sheet shop beside a station wall—these may appear insignificant to those sitting in offices and issuing orders. But for the poor, they are survival itself.
These are not lives built on crime or exploitation. These are earnings made through long hours of hard work, heat, rain, exhaustion, and the sweat of the brow. Behind each small stall is usually a family trying quietly to live with dignity.
A Deficit of Dignity: Beautification cannot mean removing the poor from visibility.
Many people remembered those painful images from previous years when slums in parts of India were covered with large screens before visits by foreign dignitaries so that poverty would not be visible. People felt insulted then, too. Today, the fear is similar. Instead of solving poverty, are we trying to erase the sight of poor people from public spaces?
Central Forces on Streets: Heavy Security Triggers Anxiety
Another visible change has been the increasing presence of central forces and heavily armed personnel in sensitive areas. Whether during demolitions, Eid monitoring, protests, or verification exercises, their visibility itself has created anxiety.
Children watching bulldozers move through narrow lanes with police escorts may not understand politics. But they understand fear. Women peeping from balconies while forces march below understand fear. Elderly people hurriedly gathering documents into plastic bags understand fear.
Cattle Trade Curbs: Eid Restrictions Hurt Bengal Economy
This fear deepened further around Eid al-Adha because of the restrictions and scrutiny surrounding cattle slaughter. Officially, the government maintained that it was only enforcing existing laws and preventing illegal slaughter or smuggling. But on the ground, the impact was severe for cattle rearers, traders, transporters, butchers, leather workers, and small restaurant owners.
Several cattle markets reportedly remained dull. Traders feared transporting animals. Small businesses dependent on the Eid season suffered losses. For many families, this was not merely about one religious occasion. Their yearly earnings and survival were connected to this entire cycle.
Voter Deletions and Tribunal Fears Panic Bengal Poor
Then there is the issue of SIR voter deletions, which has silently created enormous fear among ordinary people.
Large numbers of people whose names disappeared from electoral rolls are still waiting while appeals remain pending before tribunals and courts. Families who voted for decades suddenly fear that they may now have to repeatedly prove their identity and citizenship through endless paperwork.
And behind this lies another fear that people often whisper about but hesitate to discuss openly: detention centres.
The very thought that one day a poor labourer, widow, elderly villager, domestic worker, or migrant family could be declared “deleted” despite living here for generations has shaken many people deeply. Educated people at least understand legal language and procedures. But for the poor, notices and tribunals themselves become terrifying words.
Alongside this, many people are also struggling with welfare schemes. Earlier schemes have been stopped or changed, while new ones often involve complicated procedures that even educated people find difficult to understand. Poor families living in informal settlements suffer the most because their documents are rarely perfect despite their having lived in the same place for decades.
Humane Governance: Why Bengal Must Balance Law and Empathy
At the same time, people were genuinely frustrated with many aspects of the earlier system too. Ordinary people expected better administration.
But strong administration and humane governance are not opposites. They must exist together.
- Rehabilitation First: If roads are cleared, rehabilitation must also be discussed.
- Administrative Accountability: If buildings are demolished, those who allowed them for decades must also be held accountable.
- Compensation and Support: And those who spent their lifetime savings to buy tiny homes should not simply be discarded without compensation, support, or humanity.
- Empowerment, Not Terror: If documentation is necessary, poor citizens should be helped, not terrorised.
- Equal Application: If the law is enforced, it should not appear selective or targeted.
Bengal has always taken pride in its humanity, warmth, and social sensitivity. That spirit should not disappear behind barricades, bulldozers, and fear.
A government may control roads through force and the visibility of power. But lasting peace comes only when ordinary people feel secure in their homes, livelihoods, identity, and dignity.
Today, sadly, many people no longer feel that security.
Yes, the present government has acted very swiftly and aggressively in a very short span of time. But in this rush to enforce power and control, it is humanity that is suffering the most.
