။ What Elections ? Ask Mousuni island

At Mousuni island in West Bengal’s Sundarbans, it hardly looks like election time. Though there are no party flags or posters, politicians do come to the three villages in the island seeking votes and making promises of development. One of the major problems of the island of some 25,000 people is sea-water flooding that spoils standing crops seasonally, and the soil permanently. An incomplete embankment project on the Muriganga, crop failure, lack of employment, and dropping fish catch have forced many to migrate.
Will the coming elections change things for the hapless people of Mousuni island ? ။ Photo : A.Roy Chowdhury