‘Modi ji rattled... no Pulwama or Balakot, no temple effect... no cakewalk this time’

CONGRESS LEADER ADHIR RANJAN CHOWDHURYHASBEEN winning from Baharampur in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district since 1999. This time, he is facing Trinamool Congress (TMC) candidate and former India cricketer Yusuf Pathan and the BJP’S Dr Nirmal Saha. Chowdhury, whose seat votes in the fourth phase on May 13, speaks to RAVIK BHATTACHARYA and ATRI MITRA about Prime Minister Na rend ra mo di, the left-congress alliance in Bengal, the TMC, and his party’s strategy. Excerpts:

What is your assessment after three phases of polling?

The national political scene is changing fast. The diminishing returns of the Modi effect have already set in across the country. Day after day, phase after phase, Modi’s fate is being challenged. He cannot say it is a cakewalk this time. Already, Modi ji is rattled by the challenge the Opposition has put forth. Nobody can say what is going to happen. There is no Pulwama, no ultra-nationalism, and people’s mood is not like it was after Balakot. Ram Mandir, which Modi expected would be a big issue, is having no effect on the ground, even in the Hindi belt.

Across India, Modi’s aura, the euphoria, and jingoism are withering away.

How is your campaign and your alliance with the Left in West Bengal going?

Neither the Congress nor the Left ever indulged in communal or sectarian politics. On this, there was never a fundamental ideological difference between us. Leftist thought exists within Congress ideology, and history suggests the two can hold hands.

In Bengal, the situation warranted that we have a pragmatic alliance. Not a political alliance per se, but seat adjustment, to keep ourselves politically relevant and to emerge afresh. So far, we are progressing well. There will be surprises waiting for you.

Both Mamata and Abhishek Banerjee have blamed you for the failure of the INDIA bloc to take off in West Bengal...

I have been fighting Mamata Banerjee’s politics of violence which is intended to decimate the Congress in Bengal. For the last couple of years, we have been fighting for our existence. For my party to survive in Bengal, I had to take up cudgels against her. My stand has not changed.

I have just one question for her: What triggered her exit from the INDIA bloc? She had even claimed that she conceived the name INDIA. If Adhir was the trigger, why did she agree to join the alliance in the first place?

What is the Congress strategy in West Bengal?

We are highlighting the miserable failure of the Modi government that is running the country. People are acknowledging and accepting our argument. We are also exploiting anti-incumbency.

But the Congress joined hands with TMC in 2011 to oust the Left in West Bengal?

That was the need of the hour. The CPI(M) of 2011 is the polar opposite of the CPI(M) now. Those so-called harmads (miscreants) who were nurtured by the CPI(M), as was alleged by Mamata Banerjee at that time, have now become the damaad (son-in-law) of the TMC.

What do you have to say about your opponent Yusuf Pathan?

Anybody who is entitled to vote and above 24 years of age can fight anywhere in the country. He isn’t the issue. My fight is against Mamata Banerjee and the BJP juggernaut.

Are you confident about getting minority votes?

Minority votes have started to switch over to the Congress and the Left. But, minorities still cast votes strategically. If they think the TMC can win a seat by defeating the BJP, they will give their votes to them. But my gut feeling is that wherever the Congress and Left have any prospect of winning, the entire minority vote could switch over.