A slimy pond with floating algae that fronts a nondescript building in an equally nondescript town may not normally make for an election story. But the building, with red flags tied to its doors and windows, is not just a story — it is part of the contemporary history of West Bengal.
The Sukumar Sengupta Bhavan, as the building commemorating a comrade of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) is called, is the Nandigram area committee office of the party that ruled the State for three decades. In the aftermath of violence related to a land acquisition bid by the then government, the party office was torched and eventually closed in 2007. After 12 years, the CPI(M) office reopened on April 7 ahead of the Lok Sabha election.
“The party is gaining ground in Nandigram,” says Anup Kumar Pal, the CPI(M)’s Haripur branch office member, a view endorsed by two of his comrades, Saroj Bhattacharya and Biplab Manna of another branch committee. Over the past decade, CPI(M) workers have rarely managed to campaign in Nandigram or even operate party offices or field candidates in village council elections. But now, the red flags are sporadically visible in Nandigram and other parts of the State.
Mr. Pal has an explanation. “We fought consistently over a decade, perhaps the party workers are slowly regaining confidence,” he says. Mr. Bhattacharya chimes in, “Perhaps, they [the Trinamool] softened a bit.”
The softening of the Trinamool has a reason tied to realpolitik, which is evident as one enters Nandigram in the Tamluk Lok Sabha constituency. The “gram panchayat number one” in Nandigram’s Block 1 appears to sport as many BJP flags as those of the Trinamool. Going by such signs, the BJP appears to have gained a visibly significant presence in parts of Tamluk and even the adjacent constituency, Kanthi, going to the polls on May 12.
Both seats have been dominated over the last decade by East Medinipur’s Adhikari family of the Trinamool.
The family patriarch, Sisir Adhikari, won Kanthi in 2009. Tamluk was represented by Suvendu Adhikari twice (2009, 2014) and his younger brother Dibyendu (2016 byelection). In 2019, Dibyendu Adhikari is the Trinamool’s candidate in Tamluk, while the senior Adhikari is seeking re-election in Kanthi. A local Trinamool leader of Haldia, the Assembly constituency next to Nandigram, says both seats will be a “cakewalk” for the Adhikaris.
Focus on margin
“It is not a question about winning, it is about increasing the margin,” says Shyamal Adak, an Adhikari family confidant and municipal chairman. Asked for a comment on the reopening of the CPI(M) party office in Nandigram, Mr. Adak gives a guarded reply.
“Everybody should participate in the democratic process,” he says.
Lakshman Seth, a three-time MP who dominated East Medinipur before the Adhikaris, argues that “a complex scenario” is evolving in the two seats. “Politics is getting recalibrated in Bengal. The Trinamool is under pressure because of the BJP’s rise. So the Trinamool is trying to energise the Left so that the anti-Trinamool vote can be split. [As] part of that plan, [CPI(M)] party offices are being opened,” he says. However, observers say the BJP is not a serious contender in Tamluk and Kanthi.
Even within the BJP, many feel the party’s choice of candidate makes Tamluk “a giveaway”. “The candidate belongs to another district and is a musician,” says a district BJP leader, speaking on condition of anonymity. “The district leaders were unhappy and even petitioned the State leadership. It is now felt that we [BJP] gifted the seat to the Adhikari family,” the local BJP leader said.
Mr. Seth, who is now the Congress candidate in Tamluk, says the BJP lacks “organisation”.
