KOLKATA: “This proves that I am an Indian citizen,” Minakshi Mukhopadhyay said, pulling her Election Commission-issued voter ID card from her wallet and brandishing it at police officers manning the barricades at the entrance to Kolkata’s Harish Chatterjee Road. “How can you stop me from going in?” she asked the robed officer.
Harish Chatterjee Road may seem like any other part of old Kolkata, but it holds a significant place in West Bengal politics. It is Didi’s para and the birthplace of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who has been the state’s chief minister since 2011, after ending 34 years of Left Front rule in the state after years of street struggle against communists.
But now that Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata has been at the helm of the state government for 13 years, West Bengal has discovered a new street fighter in Minakshi, who won’t allow police into the chief minister’s neighbourhood. As the Communist Party of India (Marxist) seeks a comeback in one of the country’s few strongholds, it is relying on figures like the 40-year-old state secretary of its youth wing, the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI).
“Mamata talks about democracy. This is how democracy has degenerated in West Bengal, her home state. Is this her zamindari (fiefdom)?” Minakshi asked when police stopped her as she entered Harish Chatterjee Road to solicit votes for Communist Party candidate Saira Shah Halim in Kolkata’s Dakshina constituency. Halim is the daughter of Lt. Gen. Zameruddin Shah (retired), former Deputy Chief of the Indian Army and former Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University, and niece of well-known actor Naseeruddin Shah.
“We are fighting against the BJP’s sectarianism and the TMC’s corruption. We are fighting for peace, sectarian harmony, education for children and employment for youth. We are fighting for people’s right to livelihood,” Minakshi said as she and Saira distributed CPI(M) pamphlets to passersby at the Harish Chatterjee Road entrance.
“We create jobs. TMC forgot that in the last decade in its push for free services,” Saira said. “We create a culture of investing in the future.”
Minakshi, who completed her Masters in Political Science from Burdwan University, shot to prominence when the CPI(M) fielded her in Nandigram to take on Mamata and Bharatiya Janata Party’s Suvendu Adhikari in the 2021 state assembly elections. Minakshi lost and Suvendu defeated Mamata. However, while the TMC retained power, the BJP emerged as the main opposition, replacing the CPI(M). The CPI(M) failed to win a single seat, polling just 4.73% of the votes.
However, the CPI(M) saw signs of a revival in the 2022 municipal elections and the 2023 panchayat elections, as its vote share in some districts rose to 20% while a series of irregularities hit the TMC’s popularity. With Mohammed Salim, state secretary of the CPI(M) since March 2022, starting the process of ending gerontocracy in the party, several young leaders have been promoted in the past few years. Known for her girl-next-door demeanor, down-to-earth image and impassioned speeches, Minakshi has emerged as the “captain” of the young communists. She was arrested and allegedly tortured in jail following DYFI protests against the murder of student activist Anis Khan in early 2022. She led the 3,000-km-long “Insaaf March” across West Bengal for 50 days from December 2023 to January 2024. The march culminated in a massive rally in Kolkata, giving the CPI(M) the mass leader it sought to fill the void left by the late Jyoti Basu and the ailing Buddhadev Bhattacharya.
While Minakshi herself is not standing in the Lok Sabha elections, she has been busy crisscrossing the state in the past few weeks, leading the campaigns for CPI(M) candidates such as Saira in Dakshin, Kolkata, Sayant Banerjee in Tamluk, Dipshita Dhar in Serampore and Shrijan Bhattacharya in Jadavpur, many of whom are part of the party’s next generation of leaders.
When women from Sandeshkhali, North 24 Parganth, West Bengal, began protesting against atrocities committed by local TMC strongman Sheikh Shahjahan and his aides a few weeks before the Lok Sabha elections, Minakshi outwitted the state police who tried to stop her from going to the village. Wearing a sari instead of her usual salwar kameez, she rode on the back of a party member’s motorbike and waded in among the protesters. She also campaigned for senior citizens like Salim in Murshidabad and Sujan Chakraborty in Dum Dum. She also accompanied Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, state unit chief of the Indian National Congress, who filed for nomination as the party’s candidate in Baharatpur.
In West Bengal, the CPI(M) and the Congress have an electoral agreement but the TMC has chosen to contest it alone, even as it maintains that the state will remain part of India.
“The Left Front wanted to industrialise West Bengal on its strong agricultural base,” Minakshi said at an election rally in support of Srijan in Tollygunge. “What has the TMC government here or the BJP-led government at the Centre done to set up industries and create employment opportunities in West Bengal? Why should our youth go to other states to earn a livelihood?” she asked amid thunderous applause from the audience.
The BJP is hopeful that the CPI(M)’s comeback will take away a significant chunk of the minority community’s votes from the TMC, while the TMC is optimistic that a section of those who voted for the BJP against Mamata Banerjee will revert to support the CPI(M), bleakening the saffron party’s prospects.
The CPI(M) is hopeful that Minakshi and other young leaders from the party will change the political landscape in West Bengal and put an end to the TMC-BJP bipolarity.
“They (TMC and BJP activists) may try to intimidate you, but whatever happens, you will have to resist any attempt to loot your votes,” Minakshi told the crowd in Tollygunge.
“Once upon a time, we had a street fighter called Mamata Banerjee, but now she is busy running the government,” says Deepak Ghosh, listening to Minakshi over tea at a roadside stall. “But we have a new one,” he says, pointing to “The Captain.”
Published May 29, 2024 23:45 IST
