After a quick lunch at a roadside eatery in Kataria, Bangor, Moinuddin Mondal was rushing off in his “Magic Gali” to pick up some school children when he was stopped by police and subjected to a security check. “Security is tighter this time than in the last elections. Given what has happened in the area over the past few years, it’s good that they are trying to contain the violence.” Tucked away in South 24 Parganas district on the outskirts of Kolkata, Bangor has made headlines for the frequent political skirmishes that have rocked the area.
While Indians are familiar with violence here, the new clashes coincide with the rise of a new political outfit, the Indian Secular Force (ISF), which, backed by the CPI(M), wrested the Muslim-majority Bangor assembly seat from the TMC in 2021. Skirmishes have become more frequent as the TMC seeks to regain lost ground after its shock defeat and the ISF fights for its territory. At least three people were killed during last year’s panchayat elections, and several more were killed before and after the elections.
In response, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee earlier this year transferred the area from the state police to the Kolkata Police for better management, doubled the number of police stations from two to four, and plans to add four more. With about 250,000 votes, Bangor appears to have emerged as a key area in the fight for the Jadavpur Assembly constituency in the next elections.
Since the ISF failed to join forces with the Left, the seat is turning into a four-cornered contest, with the BJP and TMC forming the remaining two corners of the quadrant. The TMC has won in Jadavpur since 2009, but each time it has fielded new faces and has not given its legislators a second term. In 2019, its candidate Mimi Chakraborty won the seat by a margin of 295,000 votes, which amounts to about 48% of the total votes cast, more than a third of which came from Bangor.
Two years later, the TMC won six of the seven constituencies in Jadavpur constituency but lost Bangor constituency, where it won the most votes in 2019. It is also a battle of prestige for the TMC since a young Mamata Banerjee came to office as a giant killer from Jadavpur, defeating CPI(M) veteran Somnath Chatterjee in 1984. In 2019, the BJP got 27 per cent votes in Jadavpur, while the CPI(M) got 21 per cent.
While the BJP came second in the largely rural Baruipur and Sonarpur, the CPI(M) was runner-up in Bangor, urban Jadavpur and Tollygunge assembly constituencies. “The TMC has the strongest organisation in South 24 Pargun. So, there is no question of who will win. The election is about whether the BJP or the CPI(M) will come second. In Bangor, we may benefit from cross-voting there,” TMC’s Jadavpur-Diamond Harbour organisational district president Subhashish Chakraborty told PTI.
“TMC has fielded apolitical candidates like singer Kabir Suman, historian Sugata Bose and actress Mimi Chakraborty in the last three elections in Jadavpur. But this time’s candidate, Sayoni Ghosh, though an actress, is not new to politics. She is the youth wing president of the TMC,” he said.
The main issues raised by the opposition candidates include drinking water shortage in the area, extension of the metro line to Baruipur, lack of state-run multi-specialty hospitals and infrequent train services on the Sealdah-Laxmikantapur suburban route.
CPI(M) candidate Srijan Bhattacharya said, “The main focus of my election campaign is livelihood issues like rising prices and unemployment. I have an 18-point policy agenda for Jadavpur, which includes setting up Sonarpur IT Park. Though the foundation stone for this park was laid by former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, it has not materialised for over a decade.”
Expressing hope of victory, he said, “The CPI(M) is on the path of revival. Our chances this time are much better than in 2019, when elections were polarised along religious lines. This year it is a choice between the CPI(M) and the TMC in Jadavpur. Though the BJP has got some votes, its prospects are bleak.”
Asked if he regretted the failure of the coalition with the ISF, the first-time parliamentary candidate said, “The people of Bangor told me they were hoping for a coalition. We tried our best but some of the conditions put forward by the ISF were simply unacceptable. There is no argument on earth that can justify the CPI(M) leaving the Jadavpur seat for another party.”
The BJP has fielded national executive committee member Anirban Ganguly for the constituency. “Jadavpur has not had a Congress leader for several years and I want to change that. People do not have access to their MPs in times of need and that is a major concern,” he told PTI. Ganguly said he would expedite the expansion of metro trains, set up hospitals like AIIMS and protect the East Kolkata wetlands, as well as ensure that the drinking water problem in the region is resolved through the implementation of the Central government’s Jal Jeevan Mission.
“People know that voting for the CPI(M) is futile because the CPI(M) cannot form government either here or at the Centre. So, to defeat the TMC, people will vote for the BJP,” he asserted.ISF candidate Noor Alam Khan claimed that “victory is assured” citing the party’s strengthened grassroots organisation.
“Bangour is the heart of Jadavpur. We cannot win Jadavpur unless we win Bangour. We performed a miracle in 2021 by winning the seat without any organisation. This time, we have a strong organisation on the ground. Moreover, we are expecting support from two seats each – Baruipur and Sonarpur,” he said. Jadavpur will go to polls for the final time on June 1.
