Mamata flings down Nandigram gauntlet

THE WEST BENGAL CM SAID SHE WILL CONTEST POLLS FROM THE SEAT OF REBEL TMC LEADER ADHIKARI, WHO ACCEPTED HER CHALLENGE

KOLKATA: Thirteen years after a violent movement against land acquisition began in Nandigram and eventually catapulted the Trinamool Congress (TMC) to power in West Bengal, chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday brought the small town in East Midnapore back into the political spotlight. Banerjee announced that she will contest the seat, and by doing so, she set the stage for what could possibly be the most high-profile contest — between the CM and her aide-turned-rival Suvendu Adhikari — in the upcoming state polls.

That Banerjee made the announcement at a rally in Nandigram — Adhikari was elected legislator from the seat in 2016 — showed her intent to take the poll battle to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is hoping to form a government in the state for the first time, according to analysts who said the decision could turn out to be a political masterstroke. It was the CM’s first public meeting in the area after Adhikari left the TMC for the BJP on December 19.

Hours later, Adhikari, who is from the East Midnapore district, appeared to have accepted Banerjee’s challenge. “I will leave politics if I cannot defeat her by half a lakh (50,000) votes,” Adhikari said at a rally in south Kolkata’s Rashbehari. Polls are likely to be held in Bengal in April-May.

However, Adhikari, who will hold a tit-for-tat rally in Nandigram on Tuesday, was quick to add that the final decision to field candidates will be taken by the BJP leadership.

In Nandigram, Banerjee announced that she was likely to contest her south Kolkata stronghold of Bhabanipur — her existing seat — alongside Nandigram. The big announcement appeared to be impromptu.

“I am not announcing any name for the Nandigram assembly seat. I will announce it later. But I promise to field a good candidate who will stay here and work for the people,” she said.

And seconds later, she added: “How will it be if I contest from Nandigram ? It is a feeling that I shared. Nandigram finds a place in my heart and soul.” The crowd erupted in a thunderous applause. “I won’t be able to give much time to Nandigram before the polls because I am the face for all 294 assembly seats in the state. So, you have to take care of everything. Later, I will do the rest,” Banerjee told the gathering. While the TMC said around 300,000 people attended the rally, Adhikari contended that just 30,000 had gathered.

Members of the Adhikari family have a big support base in East Midnapore. Contai and Tamluk Lok Sabha seats in the district are represented by Adhikari’s father, Sisir, and his elder brother, Dibyendu. There’s a buzz that both could desert the TMC to join the BJP. While Adhikari’s other brother, Soumendu, is already with the BJP, the family members have maintained a distance from the ruling party. No one from the family was present at Banerjee’s rally.

In Nandigram, the TMC-led movement against acquisition of farmland for industries witnessed unprecedented violence during the last years of the Left Front government and, along with the agitation against the proposed small car plant by the Tatas at Singur in Hooghly district, helped Banerjee end the 34-year Left rule in 2011. The violence in Nandigram, which continued for more than two years, erupted after 14 villagers died in police firing in 2007. Adhikari was one of the faces of the movement against the then Left rule.

“Mamata Banerjee played a masterstroke. In one single move, she turned the battle between the TMC and the BJP into a battle between herself and Suvendu,” election analyst and Kolkata-based political science professor Udayan Bandopadhyay said.