A Rajbanshi sits outside his hut at Dohaguri village in Kharibari. Picture by Avijit Sarkar

The KLO has become a cuss word for them, doing them more harm than help. Dreams of a separate land have been replaced with the fear of being picked up by the police.

With the government stepping up the heat on the KLO, the Rajbanshis are finding it increasing difficult keep away from the attention of the police.

Being pulled up several times for alleged links with the militant group, the members of this ethnic community have resigned themselves to fate.

“The police are being used as pawns by their political masters, in this case the local CPM leaders. Earlier, they acted as ‘catalysts’ for political conversions. The KLO-tag is a new-found weapon to threaten us with,” said Dipankar Singha, a local KPP leader of Kharibari.

Dhiraj Singha, a resident of Dohaguri village, said: “Being a Rajbanshi has become a curse for us. The police pick on our people without any reason. They try to foist their own ideas upon us and we are forced to admit that we have KLO links. We are living a dog’s life.”

Dhiraj’s version was echoed by Gobindo Singha, a KPP activist of neighbouring Ledharam village. He said: “The KLO is just a ground for the police to harass us. They drag us to the police station where local CPM leaders ask us to switch political allegiance.”

Villagers of Dohaguri, Kaprangaguri, Ledharam, Kolabari and Gondogoljothe in Kharibari block live in constant dread. “The police and the CPM leaders connive with each other to harass the poor people. All this is done in the name of initiating a crusade against the KLO. We have lost faith in the local administration. We live in fear of what the police will do next,” said Biren Singha of Kharibari.

“These people use their uniform to create an atmosphere of terror. They threaten us with dire consequences if we dare disobey their orders. We are sandwiched between a hostile ruling party and an uncaring police administration,” said a school teacher of Kharibari.

An officer at Kharibari police station said: “We have information that around 13 people were trained at the Bhutan-based KLO camps. Six of them have been arrested. We will nab the rest.”

Siliguri superintendent of police Rajeev Mishra said: “Our focus is on Kharibari because of its proximity to Nepal and Bihar. We have to carry on the raids to find who are the people working for the KLO. We pick them up only after we have sufficient information.”

According to villagers of Kolabari, Sudam Singha, Sashilal Singha and Rangalal Singha picked up by the police two days ago for alleged links with the KLO were innocent. “If they really had links with the KLO why did the police release them after a few hours. The entire plan has been is masterminded by the ruling party,” Gupta added.