No water since 29 May because they are Muslims, did not vote for BJP

It has been over 90 days since the residents of Jyotinagar Colony near Chitpur in Kolkata last fetched their drinking water, the reason, residents allege, being that nearly 5,000 Muslims residing there had not voted for the BJP in the last Assembly elections, as local MLA Ritesh Tiwari was said to have claimed that it was he who ordered the water supply to be stopped.

The MLA’s public declaration, if the residents’ allegation is proved, is an unambiguous and blatant violation of the oath he had taken that he would work for everyone, irrespective of caste, creed and religion, and could cost him his job, yet a plea for an essential item of life, which is being denied to people simply for being Muslims, even after 90 days, is yet to be heard in the Calcutta High Court.

Another allegation against MLA Tiwari, as per a report published in The Wire, is that a group of Muslim women from the colony, who went to meet the MLA seeking relief from their ordeal, however, received a religious tirade from Tiwari, who questioned them as to why they had built a mosque and called out to Allah, and why they could not pray at home, before chiding them and urging them to move the court to reclaim their water and electricity.

Swati Bibi, who was in the group, said, “The MLA told us to go to court. He said this is Kolkata Port Trust land and that we have encroached on it. That is why the water and, earlier, the electricity were stopped.”

More than political, it is a case of life for which an essential requirement for people who have been deprived for more than three months, and their lucid demand is that they want water that shall not be denied because of their religion.

The water supply has been stopped since 29 May, and the street lighting was also cut, though it has since been restored. The consequences of the disruption to the water supply have been severe for the residents, as their children are missing school, the elderly and the sick are suffering, and families have been forced to bathe in the polluted river.

Residents complained about the adverse impact of using dirty water on their health, with babies being taken to the ghat and returning with rashes and reddened skin, while families were compelled to bathe deceased people with filthy river water before the final rites because there was no alternative.

Moreover, the culture of extending helping hands to the needy, which is there due to the communal harmony between Hindus and Muslims in the area, is facing the threat of being shattered, since members of the Hindu community who share whatever little water they can with Muslims fear that their own water supply will be stopped if it becomes known to the authorities.

Residents say they repeatedly approached the borough office and police without success. Eventually, they filed a writ petition before the Calcutta High Court. The matter had not yet been heard at the time of writing.

Over the years, the Supreme Court and high courts have reminded everyone that “water is a basic right under the right to life enshrined in the Constitution of India, Article 32, that cannot be denied by any terms and conditions”, yet Jyotinagar Colony near Chitpur has been surviving without water for the last 90 days.