Seeking Change: Farmers in Malda District Yearn for Better Opportunities

The winds of change in the plains, or the new political arithmetic in the hills? Our special analysis of the poll pulse of the northern districts. Deep Saha and Subhankar Chakraborty scribble on the roads of Malda district. The beautifully plastered mud walls. The old tali-chawal on their heads. Two of them have fallen open. Who knows, maybe they are looking at the sky through the cracks! And they are dreaming of a change of days. That is why it is written big on the mud walls :'We need change, so we want a BJP government '. The farmers of the marginal villages have little land to cultivate. They grow paddy with bone-chilling labour. Two rice balls kept in the courtyard. When the sun shines on them in the afternoon of Baisakh, the rice grains glisten like gold. Just like that new dream that is hidden in their chests. They are wearing a red sari, and their mother is sweating in the dusty fields.