Schoolkids put end to war of the wall

SHYAMPUR (ULUBERIA): It was a wall of contention that Shyampur could well have done without. Last year, prior to the Panchayat polls, the police had to step in to prevent bloodshed. But now, the contentious wall has crumbled with children booting out political parties that have been fighting to grab a pie of their school wall for decades.
The fight for a presence on the Shyampur High School's boundary wall has been on for nearly three decades.While CPM and Congress have been slugging it out for two decades, it has been a three-way contest in the past 10-12 years with Trinamool Congress too staking a claim. What makes the wall so sought-after is its strategic location.
Located at the intersection of Sibganj-Shyampur Road, Uluberia-Gadiara Road and Garchumuk Road, the 6 ft-high, 400-ft wide wall is the cheapest medium for poll publicity with guaranteed maximum eyeball share.
"If anything is written on the wall, there is no way anyone can ignore it. Not only does the entire town get to see it, tourists to Gadiara and Garchumuk are bound to spot it as well," said local CPM leader Shyamsunder Maity.
So intense was the rivalry over the wall that partry supporters didn't flinch breaking bones and lobbing countrymade bombs at each other. Many have been behind bars. So bloody was the face-off before the Assembly polls in 2006 that police decided to intervene henceforth. At the panchayat elections last year, they carved out the wall into three segments. But again, a dispute cropped up with parties keen on a vantage strip alongside the playground. The police then resorted to a toss of coin to decide who would have the prime slot.
Onkarnath Samanta, who joined Shyampur High School as its headmaster two years ago, was shocked to find political graffiti all over the boundary wall. Though he bitterly resented the political fracas over it, he couldn't do much during the panchayat polls. But he was determined to act the next time. And that's what he did.
Inspired by the headmaster, students with the help of a local artist, wiped all graffiti from the wall and painted portraits of eminent personalities instead. "It was a pleasure seeing respect restored to a house of learning," said Samanta.
The CPM is, however, not amused. He insists political parties have a right to the wall but realises he cannot exercise his might any more. "It is a public space. The school should have left some space for important notifications like a blood donation camp," Maity argued, while all the while ruing the lost opportunity to paint a political graffiti.
Sensing the mood, local Congress leader Mahananda Roy and Trinamool Congress leader Kalipada Mondal have welcomed the change. "True, it was a strategic location. But since it belongs to the school, we think they have the right to use it the way they please," the latter said.
Samanta and his students are determined to keep it that way. "I will ensure that the wall is maintained and does not fall into the hands of political parties again," he added.