NANDIGRAM

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. “Winning the Nandigram seat will be a tough job for him now given Banerjee’s image and popularity. Moreover, Banerjee’s challenge will force Adhikari to spend most of his time in his home district and Nandigram. He will not be able to work for the BJP in other districts. Banerjee killed many birds with one stone,” he added.

But the BJP attempted to turn the tables on Banerjee, saying she would contest Nandigram and Bhabanipur both because she was not confident of retaining her seat. “Mamata Banerjee is looking for a safe seat...no seat in Bengal is safe for her anymore,” said BJP Bengal unit president Dilip Ghosh.

As the political temperature soared, a BJP worker was injured when some people allegedly carrying TMC flags pelted brickbats at a road show led by Ghosh and Adhikari in south Kolkata. In retaliation, BJP workers allegedly ransacked two-wheelers parked by the road and pelted stones at buildings and shops. Minister Aroop Biswas rushed to the spot as locals staged a roadblock in protest against the violence as tension filled the air in south Kolkata.

The TMC, however, denied any involvement. The state BJP unit called the incident a “blatant attack on democracy”.

In the 2011 assembly elections, the BJP failed to win a single seat and got a vote share of around 4%. In 2016, it did better, winning three seats and bagging a vote share of around 10%.

Buoyed by the Lok Sabha performance last year (18 of the 42 seats), the BJP is now focusing on the issues of corruption and nepotism, lack of employment, and law and order in the politically charged state. It has set a target to win at least 200 of the 294 seats.