Bhangar rears trouble for Didi

KOLKATA:West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has a seemingly tiny and localised political challenger on the horizon, barely 30km east of Kolkata. However, unlike opposition parties she has demolished in elections since storming to power in 2011, her problem is this won’t be a conventional foe.

This challenger is drawing strength from what is seen as one of her vulnerable spots — the Bhangar land agitation in South 24-Parganas district against a Power Grid Corporation India Ltd project. This is the only major land agitation in Bengal after her Trinamool Congress ended the Left Front’s 34-year rule. Incidentally, in the years leading up to assuming power, Mamata had ripped into the Left Front over land agitations in Nandigram and Singur. The government is treading carefully around Bhangar block and police are maintaining their distance from the cluster of villages opposing the project, alleging it is a health hazard and detrimental to fish and crop.

When the agitation started in October 2016, four villages were resisting the project. The resistance has spread to 16 villages. A key leader of the agitation, Alik Chakraborty, moves around freely in Bhangar despite police booking him under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The Centre had brought the UAPA into force to curb terror and disruptive activities.