Sitalkuchi, largely an agrarian region, dominated by tobacco farmers with some wealthy ones and some migrants, has seen violence in the recent past. A young couple was harassed by TMC workers outside the polling booth in April 2019. There were two attacks on state BJP president Dilip Ghosh –– one before his rath yatra in December 2018 and one a week ago. But there have been none like the violent clashes on Saturday that experts say threatens to polarise the state further.
Sitalkuchi has among the highest percentage of Muslims (36%) in Cooch Behar, only next to Dinhata where MP Nisith Pramanik is the BJP candidate, apart from Rajbhongshis (50%). The Rajbongshis are the third-largest Hindu caste in Bengal constituting 28% of the total population, but account for 60% of the rural population of North Bengal and claim to be the ‘earliest settlers’.