Bhangar rears trouble for Didi
LOSING GROUND As agitators opposing the setting up of a power substation in North 24Parganas set plans for contesting panchayat elections in motion, rivals of Bengal CM begin to huddle around them
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.
Chakraborty shared plans of the Bhangar agitators to contest the Bengal panchayat polls in 2018. “People will take over the panchayat from Trinamool Congress,” he told HT, sipping tea at a roadside stall in the region.
“The movement is also against
the ruling party’s corruption and subjugation of dissenting voices,” Chakraborty, a member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Red Star.
Backed by Chakraborty’s party, agitating villagers have decided to field independent candidates across Bhangar.
The agitators, who have galvanised under a banner named Jami, Jibika, Poribesh O Bastutantra Raksha Committee (JJPBRC — committee to secure land, livelihood, environment and ecosystem) showcased their political intent last month. Between October 15 and 27, the JJPBRC formed branches in all 16 villages opposing the project. Each branch has between 40 and 125 members.
“The committee will approve any development project a panchayat, or the government, may take up,” said Mirza Hasan, convener of JJPBRC. Questions about such an extra-constitutional suggestion do not bother him.
FLASHPOINT: JANUARY 17, 2017
Anti-Trinamool sentiment peaked after two villagers died during a clash between police and agitators on January 17. Villagers allege that “Trinamoolbacked goons, mingling with the police, opened fire and killed their unarmed boys”. Police are investigating the case.
Work on the project stopped after the two deaths, which also ended Trinamool leaders’ visits to many of the restive villages.
Kaiser Ahmed, a Trinamool leader of South 24-Parganas district, said, “The party’s top leadership has asked us to avoid confrontation with the agitators.”
The government’s unease on Bhangar has seen opposition parties rally to the cause of the agitators.
Congress and CPI(M) leaders have visited Bhangar several times since the flare-up.
“Bhangar is emerging as a model of resistance to the ruling party’s politics of muscle power,” said Congress leader Abdul Mannan.
CPI(M) leader Samik Lahiri said, “The Bhangar movement is an example that the ruling party’s muscle power can be resisted with people’s united effort.”
The CM has tried to counter, assuring villagers the project will not be completed if they have objections. “The agitators are misleading the villagers. The project has no health hazards, experts assured us. The villagers have to decide whether they want stable power, or fluctuating supply that would also damage gadgets,” the CM has said.
Bengal power minister Sovandeb Chatterjee told HT, “I have nothing to add on the safety of the project after what the chief minister said. We are always open to discussion.”
KOLKATA:West