WEST BENGAL: BATTLE READY ADHIR
Adhir Choudhury, the new Congress leader in the Lok Sabha, is a law unto himself
When Adhir Ranjan Choudhury’s name was announced as the new Congress leader in the Lok Sabha on June 19, it surprised many, but not those who know the man. Adhir, a Congress MP from West Bengal for the past two decades, has stood with the party through its highs and lows, guarding his pocket borough Murshidabad against the onslaught of first the CPI(M), and then Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC).
The Congress chose him for the Lok Sabha post for multiple reasons. Besides party loyalty and his organisational skills, what went in his favour was the Congress’s anxiety to hold on to the position of the main Opposition voice in Parliament. And he has already proved his mettle. In his first speech in the new session, he got much support from the Opposition benches after he castigated the BJP contingent for comparing Swami
Vivekananda to Narendra Modi, saying it was like comparing “a monk and a monster”. Later, he dismissed speaking of Indira Gandhi in the same breath as Modi, saying, “Kahan maa Ganga aur kahan gandi naali (how to compare mother Ganga and a dirty sewer)”.
Back in the 1970s, Adhir briefly flirted with the Naxalite movement, even doing a fiveyear jail stint for his troubles. That violent legacy, and also a reputation as a man who gets things done, have followed him since. In fact, his first electoral victory as an MLA was in 1996, when he was a fugitive with over a dozen murder charges and arrest warrants out against him. He still won by over 26,000 votes. Adhir established himself as indispensable in the relief work after the 2000 floods. Be it free food for the Ramzan namazis or medical treatment for the poor, financial assistance for a daughter’s wedding or a funeral service, Adhir was the goto man. “If there was an eveteasing complaint, just one call to Adhir was enough to take care of the offenders,” says veteran Congressman Amitabha Chakrabarty. “Women in Behrampore felt safe to move around even at night. There were no cases of harassment or rape in Murshidabad.”
Adhir settled disputes in his khaplike durbars and people relied more on him than the police or the courts. “The general feeling among the poor is that Adhir can do no wrong,” says
ADHIR HAS BEEN CONGRESS MP FROM BENGAL FOR CLOSE TO 20 YEARS
Manoj Chakrabarty, Congress chief whip in the Bengal assembly. Punishments meted out were exemplary, which wiped out crime in the areas he controlled. Adhir also kept racking up the criminal charges, but he rarely stayed in jail for long.
Meanwhile, the political journey continued. He won the 1994 parliamentary election from Behrampore in Murshidabad district by a huge margin. In fact, Mamata’s differences with the Congress grew with Bengal veterans like Somen Mitra promoting young turks like Adhir. Mamata once even threatened suicide, protesting against the party’s decision to give tickets to ‘criminals’ like Adhir. But he had Mitra’s backing and it eventually led to Mamata breaking away to form her own party, the TMC.
Adhir’s rise in the party was slow but steady. He became MoS for railways in the UPA II government in 2012 and was made West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee chief in 2014. His stock fell a bit in September 2018, when the Congress was looking for a broader anti-Modi platform with the secular forces. Adhir was asked to quit his post in the state as he was found to be too harsh towards Mamata.
And he was too. In his tirades against Mamata, he often appeared to be taking up the brief of the BJP, echoing its allegations. For a brief while, speculation was also rife on Adhir crossing over to secure his seat. But he contested as a Congress candidate and won by a margin of 78,500 votes (helped along by the BJP and the CPI-M who fielded weak candidates). Now he will also be the party’s voice in the lower house.