BIRBHUM: Rabindranath Tagore imagined a land where ‘’the mind is without fear and the head is held high’’. But Birbhum district, where the Nobel laureate founded Visva-Bharati niversity, has witnessed a lot of bloodshed over the last five years, leaving commoners scared. Few dare take the street after sunset. Convivial gatherings are a thing of the past and politics is a dreaded word.
Violent clashes between cadres of the Trinamool Congress and the upcoming BJP did not even spare the law enforcers. An officer of sub-assistant rank was hit by a bomb and died, prompting police to bring murder charges against a ruling party leader on the back of huge public protests. The spiral of violence has continued, casting its long shadow on the Lok Sabha polls.
With the fourth phase of the election on Monday, electors are scared of witnessing violence once again. Political clashes in Bolpur and its adjoining Birbhum Lok Sabha constituency began after the BJP made inroads in the area with the support of hundreds of CPM party activists who shifted their loyalty to the saffron brigade.
‘’Our party suffered a sharp dent in its vote bank in the last Lok Sabha polls. More than 11 per cent of voters did not support our candidate in Birbhum Lok Sabha seat. The BJP secured an increase of more than 13 per cent,’’ said a Trinamool leader in Birbhum district.
In 2014, Trinamool candidate Anupam Hazra had defeated CPM’s Ramchandra Dome in Bolpur with a margin of more than 2.3 lakh votes. Hazra switched camps and defected to the BJP recently, which has further upped the Trinamool’s ire.
Dome had held the seat, reserved for the Scheduled Castes, in 2009. Before that, veteran parliamentarian Somnath Chatterjee had won the seat in a bypoll in 1985 and held it till 2009.
The Left Front is on the back foot in its once impregnable fortress as the party’s vote share dropped by more than 19 per cent in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. In the 2018 panchayat polls, a large section of party supporters extended their support to the BJP, hastening the Left Front’s demise.
‘’We failed to retain our support base. This is because we failed to protect our party workers and supporters from atrocities at the hands of Trinamool activists using state power. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has been able to strongly penetrate among common people in this area and they are ready to give a matching reply to each ruling party attack. Our party supporters are feeling much safer under the BJP’s wings,’’ said a CPM leader of Birbhum district committee.
Birbhum had hit the headlines in regional newspapers on several occasions after the senior Trinamool leader in the district, Anubrata Mondal, issued threats against opposition leaders, police personnel and common people who supported the BJP.
Days before the panchayat polls last year, Mondal was provided Z category security cover on the basis of the recommendations of the directorate of security, a state committee of senior police officers that assesses threat perceptions.
The BJP leadership in the district found that the security move was meant to protect Mondal from his own party’s cadres. ‘’Trinamool is facing factional feuds in every corner of the district, and hence the district chief of the party fears he might be targeted by his own men,’’ said a BJP leader.
In Birbhum Lok Sabha seat, the BJP fielded Dudh Kumar Mondal, whom Mondal has always found a tough contender to battle, against Trinamool’s candidate Shatabdi Roy, a former actress.
Trinamool preferred turncoat Asit Kumar Mall, who defected from the Congress, to be fielded against BJP candidate Ram Prashad Dam in Bolpur Lok Sabha constituency. Bolpur and Birbhum are among the Lok Sabha seats where the BJP is all set to give the ruling party a tough fight.
In last year’s panchayat polls, BJP candidates were waylaid when they were going to file nomination papers in the Mohammadbazar area. As the news spread, thousands of tribals armed with bows and arrows and other traditional weapons turned up there and escorted the candidates.
‘’We were surprised to see the huge number of tribals who rushed to the area from the neighbouring pockets, hiring buses and other vehicles. Initially, we had no clue what could be the driving force behind the assembly of the huge number of tribals. Later, we came to know that they were RSS workers who have been working among the poor and tribal people,’’ said another Triamool leader.
Illegal sand mining is one of the issues that has triggered alleged factional feuds in Trinamool. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, while addressing public rallies in the district, threatened to take strict action against those involved in illegal sand mining. Opposition leaders, however, described Mamata’s warning as a threat to those who were not paying the party fund.
“Illegal sand mining is controlled in Birbhum through a nexus between local political leaders and local police personnel. The party leaders in Kolkata are completely unaware of the deals, and this is why Mamata issued the threat,’’ said a BJP leader in the district.
Trinamool’s internal feuds might help the BJP make further inroads in the area as the CPM and the Congress have slowly become irrelevant in the district due to fast dwindling cadres and support.