BAJKUL: Radhakrishna Manna, a daily wage earner remembers the day on October 31, 1984. It was here while driving from Digha after spending the night there, that police stopped late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s motorcade to inform him: “There has been an accident at your home”.
I was with Rajiv at that time as a young reporter covering his tour of West Bengal as ICC general secretary and remembered the Sub-Inspector of police whose hands were trembling as he handed over a wireless message and he, out of nervousness, spoke in Bengali. It was President Pranab Mukherjee, then Finance Minister, who explained to Rajiv that Indira Gandhi had been shot by her own body guards.
The area has always been a Congress stronghold though the Left Front was in power since 1977. For people here, the Trinamool Congress was a natural choice after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced its formation in July 1997 as the voters were and still are strongly opposed to the CPI(M) because of arrogance and atrocities of the Marxist cadre.
This area is under Bhagabanpur Assembly constituency where polls will be held on Thursday. The TMC nominee, originally a Congressman, Ardhendu Sekhar Maity who has been elected thrice is quite popular.
Manna and his fellow workers usually work under the 100-days’ MGNREGA scheme and earn Rs 171 a day. The rest of the days, the 60-year-old works as a farm labourer.
He says, “During the Left regime, they would steal Rs 5 by implementing a project worth Rs 10. Now the TMC steals Rs 12 by implementing a project worth Rs 20. So, apparently, people see that more work has been done.”
He uses a local village proverb and remarks: “CPM amole paka rui pukurei thaakto. Ei amoley paka rui noon feley tuley nichhey. (During CPI(M) regime, the famous sweet water fish Rohu was allowed to remain in the pond. But during TMC regime they are putting salt in the pond and taking the Rohu out). We are common people and swing with the tide. Naturally we now support the TMC. The day before the polls, we will decide whom to vote.”
He says that, usually, Nantu Maity, a known criminal is the one who decides the fate of many candidates in this region of East Midnapore. TMC had swept all 16 assembly seats of this district in 2011 polls. But the goon is behind bars now. “He has been arrested from Odisha following orders of the Election Commission. So his writ will not run anymore, though his men are still active and will play a role on Thursday,” says Manna. “But without their leader, they will not be very effective.”
A section of people here who were die-hard Congress supporters but later rallied with TMC have had a rethink after Congress and Left joined hands. Many are opposed to the Adhikari family of TMC MP Sisir Adhikari, sons MP Suvendu, and MLA Dibyendu who is contesting from Contai North.
A small businessman, who is a TMC worker, laments: “I have been with the party ever since it was born and have very close relations with the Adhikari family. My father was in the Congress. Some goons came to me for money. So, I went to Suvendu to sort it out. But he said that as far as business is concerned I must manage on my own. Politically if I face any problem he’d sort it out.”
Many feel that the police firing at Nandigram, which is only an hour’s drive from this area, was a “conspiracy and mishandling by former Left Front Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya”. They felt that a big industry at Nandigram and its ancillaries would have changed the economy of entire East Midnapore.
A mature old man, who retired as an Economics teacher at a college, says, “Had the CPI(M)-led Left Front done some minimum research about Nandigram, such a fiasco would not have happened. Such a large chemical hub and its ancillaries would have provided jobs not only to youths in the district but entire Bengal. Then CPI(M) leader Laxman Seth of Haldia, who had no authority, suddenly sent a notice to acquire land. People felt threatened and the SUCI, Maoists and the Congress organised a committee against land acquisition. The movement gained ground and then Mamata Banerjee came and took control.” RSP central committee member Amrito Maity, who was also opposed to the CPI(M)’s attitude at that time, says, “The police was sent to serve the notice. Local villagers opposed it and protested. The police resorted to a lathi charge on January 3, 2007 on unarmed villagers. They retorted with an attack and burnt police vehicles.
“The CPI(M)’s reaction was ‘would police shower flowers if attacked?’. Then on January 7, 2007 three protesting men Sheikh Salim, Biswajit and Bharat were killed by the CPM government. The agitated masses went and killed CPM worker Sankar Samanta. It was since then that the CPM mobilised the police and the bloodbath started,” he recalled.
Others who were part of the movement and associated with fringe political bodies but not part of the Left Front tell a different story. One man, on condition of anonymity, said, “A section of police also played a role. The January 7 firing would not have happened otherwise. S M H Meerza was then ASP (headquarters) in our district. It was he who ordered the firing. He was then very close to TMC Rajya Sabha MP Mukul Roy. They wanted several dead and succeeded by killing 14 persons.”
Meerza was seen in the Narada sting accepting cash bribes as SP of Burdwan and claiming: “I have given Rs 60 lakh and I am Mukulda’s man.”
Amrito too echoes the same and said, “Had the LF government then decided on another area close to Haldi river near Dinabandhupur where only 400 families needed to be rehabilitated, such a catastrophe would not have happened.
“Without a proper study of the demography, the CPI(M) alone went ahead. The area they chose affected at least 72,000 people spread over four gram panchayats. Had there been no ‘Nandigram’ which became internationally talked about, there would have been no ‘Didi’ as Chief Minister. I stay with my grand children in Nandigram block 2 till now. But if Mamata returns to power, I might have to shift out, being a LF leader,” he fears.
With the state going to the polls in 10 days, focus of the campaign against the UDF government has shifted from corruption to law and order.
Which way will old Cong Bastion go?
The area has always been a Congress stronghold though the Left Front was in power since 1977. For people here, the Trinamool Congress was a natural choice after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced its formation in July 1997 as the voters were and still are strongly opposed to the CPI(M) because of arrogance and atrocties of the Marxist cadre.
A section of people, long Congress supporters but who later rallied with TMC, have had a rethink after Congress and Left joined hands. Many are opposed to the Adhikaris — TMC MP Sisir and his sons MP Suvendu and MLA Dibyendu (contesting from Contai North)
Bombs in polling booth
Four bombs were found on Wednesday in a polling station, a school building, in Ramnagar Assembly constituency in East Midnapore district on the eve of polling there, the police said.
EC transfers cop
Acting on complaints, Election Commission has transferred a policeman in West Midnapore district and also instructed IPS officer Bharati Ghosh not to go to any poll-bound district ahead of the last phase of polling.
wooing enclave voters
With enclave residents set to vote for the first time since Independence, they are being aggressively wooed by various political parties, who are taking credit for resolving the 68-year-old border dispute.
50,000 strong force
Close to 50,000 security personnel, including 361 companies of central forces, have been deployed to ensure that polling for the sixth and last phase of West Bengal elections is held in a free and fair manner.
[[Trinamool has declared a battle against the people of the state. And it was the people’s demand that all the secular and democratic parties should unite to fight against the autocratic TMC — surjyakanta mishra, CPM state secy