KOLKATA/HOWRAH/TEHATTA: The bodies of two jawans from Bengal who lost their lives in the Pulwama suicide attack on Thursday landed at Kolkata airport on Saturday afternoon. As the state’s political leaders made a beeline to pay their respects, the widow of one of the slain soldiers made a plea to keep the sacrifice of her husband and other jawans above politics.“The jawans have made the ultimate sacrifice for the country. Let everyone pay their respects to them. But there should not be any politics over their deaths,” said Mita, wife of slain soldier Bablu Santra, as she waited for her husband’s body at their Chok Kashipur home in Howrah’s Bauria. Mita also spoke out against war, saying it would “only harm civilians and not terrorists”. She, however, said, “Terrorist training camps should be destroyed. Let our leaders decide how to do so.”Jawan Sudip Biswas’s sister at Kolkata airport.A little later, she was told that the special aircraft carrying her husband’s coffin had just landed at Kolkata airport. Lying in the coffin beside Santra — a head constable in CRPF’s 35th battalion — was constable Sudip Biswas of Nadia’s Tehatta The two coffins were draped in the Tricolour and CRPF gave them a guard of honour. Members from the two families were present at the airport, as were senior officers from the armed forces and CRPF, along with Union minister Babul Supriyo. Outside the ceremonial area, a large crowd had gathered with flags and placards, chanting “Shahider rokto hobe nako byartho (the martyrs’ sacrifice shall not go in vain)” and “Pakistan murdabad (down with Pakistan )”.Bablu Santra’s wife and daughter with his coffin in Howrah’s Bauria on Saturday.In Bauria, Santra’s 71-yearold mother Bonomala Devi fainted on seeing her son’s coffin. Too young to understand what was happening, Santra’s sixyear-old daughter Piyal asked a relative why her mother was crying. Her grand-aunt Bhagawati Devi then took Piyal to the coffin and made her touch it with her forehead. Bhagawati later said, “I did not want to explain what has happened to such a young girl. I simply made her touch her head to her father’s coffin. I hope it will be a source of peace for him.”Waiting in the Santras’ neighbourhood were ministers Arup Ray, BJP leader Rahul Sinha and other political leaders. Babul Supriyo was in the coffin’s convoy to the Santra home. The slain jawan was accorded another guard of honour by CRPF jawans in a nearby field before it was taken away for the last rites.In Nadia’s Tehatta, villagers tried to get close to constable Sudip Biswas’s coffin when it arrived around 9pm. On the way from the airport, the coffin’s convoy had been stopped by crowds in quite a few places.Biswas’s mother Mamata, who was inconsolable, said, “My son will never call me ‘Ma’ again.” After a guard of honour and floral tributes by ministers and other political leaders, the body was taken away for the last rites.

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