Phulia (Nadia), March 22: Felani Basak, 81, thinks she and her deceased daughter were pawns in a political game. The game is over now. Riding on a wave of change, Mamata Banerjee came to power five years ago. But for Felani, nothing has changed. Worse, she has been consigned to a life of obscurity.

The ailing octogenarian lives in a ramshackle hut in a dingy lane in Nadia's Phulia with her son Nikhil, 51, and daughter-in-law Shantirani, 43. All that the family survives on is panta bhat.

Benefits under the government's welfare schemes for the poor elude Felani as her name never figured in the BPL list. Her repeated efforts to get herself enrolled as a BPL member drew a blank as the list has not been updated since 2005.

Felani had hoped that the Trinamul government would help her survive and take action against the CPM activist who allegedly raped her deaf-and-mute daughter Dipali 24 years ago.

In 1992, the atrocity on Dipali had born testimony to the lawlessness in Bengal. She had been allegedly raped and tortured by neighbour and CPM activist Souvagya Basak. She became pregnant. Mamata, then a minister in the P.V. Narasimha Rao government, had taken Dipali to Writers' Buildings to demand justice from then chief minister Jyoti Basu. But police had allegedly driven them out.

Felani believes that Mamata had cashed in on the incident and achieved her political goal, but forgotten her and her daughter after coming to power.

"My daughter became an instrument of extracting political mileage in the hands of Mamata. I had expected that she would bring justice to Dipali and help us survive. But no case was started against Dipali's rapist after she became chief minister," Felani said.

In March 2009, Dipali died of snakebite. Since then, her tragic tale has largely been forgotten. "Mamata, too, seems to have forgotten her," Felani said.

Spinning yarn, Felani said, tears rolling down her cheeks: "She (Mamata) played a game with us. The game is over and she has forgotten us. She never met us. She got so much, but we did not get justice. Now, we don't even get a proper meal."

Survival is Felani's biggest problem. She earns only Rs 12 a day by spinning yarn. Her son Nikhil, a weaver, earns Rs 400 a week.

Over the past five years, Felani's hopes have dimmed further. She is not even eligible for the government's old-age pension as she is not part of the BPL list.

"The CPM did not include me in the list. They were angry with us for the Writers' episode," she said. "Because of the low demand for taant, we do not get work daily."

Felani said she had hoped Mamata would "at least call me once" after becoming chief minister. "She never did. When she came to Santipur (in Nadia) two years ago, I tried to meet her. But I was not allowed," she said.

After the alleged rape, Dipali had been kept in a government home in Dhapa, Calcutta's garbage dump off EM Bypass.

"She gave birth to a baby girl. The home sent her back to us and never allowed us to see the baby. The home authorities said Dipali was neither physically nor financially capable to bring up the child. So they separated the mother and daughter before they developed an emotional attachment," Felani said.

"She had a dream - to hold her child in her arms. That dream was never fulfilled. I don't know where the child is now. I will at least die in peace if the government takes her responsibility," Felani said. "God betrayed Dipali first, then Mamata."