A high-stakes battle for TMC and BJP

NEWDELHI: The panchayat election in West Bengal is fast turning into a keen contest between the ruling Trinamool Congress and the BJP, amid reports of widespread violence across the state, according to political leaders and observers.

Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC), which eyes a larger role in the national politics, wants to retain its undisputed control over the state’s grassroots level politics, while the BJP, fast emerging as Bengal’s main Opposition party, wants to expand its footprint.

This year, the BJP has so far fielded 34,507 candidates for 58,692 seats in the three-tier polls comprising gram panchayat, panchayat samity and zila parishad. In the last panchayat poll, the BJP had fielded just 11,266 candidates.

“The BJP has found support in the common people. This is a new phase in Bengal panchayat. People are frustrated with the ruling government and sees the BJP as the real alternative in the state,” said Roopa Ganguly, Rajya Sabha MP and one of the state’s prominent BJP faces.

Shishir Adhikary, one of the TMC’S top grassroots-level leaders, said, “So far, just six FIRS have been filed. Do we have to believe that even after getting beaten up, the opposition is sitting silent and not lodging any complaint?”

Adhikary further said that like the Left “the BJP, too doesn’t have any leader and will fizzle out soon.”

The violence, however, has marred otherwise a lively panchayat poll that has always been the bedrock of political parties to win bigger elections.

Before the Left lost its state government of 34 years in 2008 assembly elections, it faced a debacle in the panchayat polls which was swept by Trinamool a year before.

This year, the image of a woman candidate being physically assaulted by alleged Trinamool goons have gone viral and showcase the underlying political tension in Bengal.

According to news reports, a Congress MLA has been assaulted, opposition workers have been thrashed and at several places members of opposition parties complained to the State Election Commission that they couldn’t file nomination. According to Opposition leaders, the hooliganism has escalated in Murshidabad — the last stronghold of the Congress.

“There is no doubt a lot of development work has happened in the state, but the obvious question is why the ruling party resorted to violence ahead of the panchayat polls? My analysis is that they want complete control. The local TMC leaders also want to showcase their political capability to the high command,” said Abhirup Sarkar, economist with the Indian Statistical Institute.