Kolkata: North 24 Parganas district, adjoining Kolkata, is the largest district of West Bengal with 33 assembly constituencies. This district will play a key role in determining which party will form government in the state.In the 2016 assembly elections, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) swept this district by winning 27 seats. The Congress and the Left won three each. However, by 2019, a lot of political changes took place in the district, which led to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) winning two out of five Lok Sabha seats or leading in 12 out of 33 assembly segments.Many TMC leaders from the district have defected to the BJP since 2019. The most prominent one is former TMC strongman and four-time MLA Arjun Singh, who is now the BJP MP from Barrackpore. Months before the 2021 election began, TMC MLAs like Shilbhadra Dutta, Prabir Ghoshal, Biswajit Das, Sunil Singh, Sabyasachi Dutta and Dulal Bor all switched to the BJP. Barring Bor, all these turncoats are contesting on BJP’s tickets this time.The Wire visited various assembly segments of the district in three tranches and observed that candidate selection, local political equations and communal polarisation are the key determining factors in this district.Bongaon UttarForty-six-year-old Gautam Dey Bishwas, a CPI(M) worker, was fixing party flags on trees in Khalidpur village of Bongaon Uttar constituency. “There was some development in this area, but the amount of terror they unleashed on our party workers is one of a kind. Although, in our panchayat, corruption level was less than elsewhere, TMC has never helped people from other parties.”When asked what will happen this time, Bishwas said, “CPI(M) will definitely get a good result. Our candidate, Pijush Kanti Saha, is a school teacher and has a clean image. A lot of people are looking for a change this time.”Also read: As Bengal Votes to Rid Itself of Unemployment, Its Ruling Party’s Campaign Misses the BeatBongaon Uttar assembly constituency is reserved for the Scheduled Castes and located on the India-Bangladesh border. A significant section of the assembly is comprised of Namashudras (Dalits).Alok Mistry of Petrapole village’s Namopara locality, about a kilometre off the India-Bangladesh border, complained about unemployment in the region. “We have no jobs, no houses. The BJP promised us new industries and jobs, so we will vote for a change,” said Mistry. Namopara is exclusively occupied by people from the Namashudra community.TMC has been winning this seat since the 2016 assembly election. This time, the TMC has fielded veteran party member and four-time panchayat samiti member Shyamal Roy from the constituency. Interestingly, two-time TMC MLA from this seat Biswajit Das, who switched over to the BJP, was not given the nomination from this seat, but instead fielded from the Bagdha seat.Subir Pal, a resident of the Ganganandapur gram panchayat, said, “Shyamal Roy is known for his social work and is a familiar face in this area. There are no corruption charges against him, which makes him a strong candidate for Trinamool.”A casual survey in and around Bongaon municipality and various gram panchayats showed that BJP candidate Ashok Kritonia is a completely unknown face.A BJP worker from Bongaon municipality area, who didn’t want to be named, said, “We didn’t even know him until his name was announced. He was not even associated with politics. Only if people vote for the symbol and Modi ji, we can win the seat.”GaighataGaighta is also a SC-reserved constituency which many political analysts are keenly observing because of its candidates and the Matua equation.The Matuas are a closely-knit group in the state belonging to the Namashudra Dalit community, who migrated from Bangladesh during and after the Partition. Thakurbari is the citadel of Matuas, located in North 24 Parganas district’s Thakurnagar. Thakurbari is also the custodian of the Matua sect.Subrata Thakur, associated with the Thakurbari, is contesting on a BJP ticket from Gaighata constituency. Subrata’s younger brother Shantanu Thakur is the BJP MP from the Bongaon parliamentary seat.Also read: Can Bimal Gurung Change the Equations in Bengal’s Himalayan Foothills?Partha Biswas, a Matua, said, “Thakurbari members have completely become political. For us it’s a place of worship but now it has become a centre of politics. Subrata Thakur contested the election in 2015, he lost and went to Australia. Now one year before this election he came back and he is contesting against. Isn’t this opportunism?”TMC fielded Narottam Biswas, who also belongs to the Matua community, from this seat. Biswas is an unfamiliar face in the region and has no political background.Dalit writer and social activist Kapil Krishna Thakur is the CPI candidate from the Gaighata seat. Thakur is a popular face in the region because of his social and political work.The BJP is hoping to get more votes from this region as the citizenship issue is one of the primary discussions.Krishnapada Chandra, Congress working president, North 24 Parganas (rural) told The Wire, “The BJP has swept the Bongaon Lok Sabha seat in 2019. However, since then, their acceptance has come down in this area. They are only doing polarisation politics, which will help in the consolidation of Hindu votes, but the scale won’t be the same as 2019. Common people are frustrated with the rise in price of LPG, petrol diesel and daily commodities. This will certainly impact the BJP’s vote share.”HabraHabra assembly constituency of North 24 Parganas is another seat to watch out for as TMC veteran and minister Jyotipriya Mallick is contesting from the seat for the third time. BJP fielded former state president Rahul Sinha against Mallick. However, Sinha has never won an election in his long political career.In Joigachi, Prallad Pal said, “Rahul Sinha lost 11 elections in his life. This time, it will become 12. He has no credibility, also he is an outsider in this area. So, he doesn’t stand a chance to win this seat.”Sinha is, however, running a high-pitched communal campaign in the area, with the words ‘lungibahini’ and ‘topidhari’ (referring to Muslims) appearing in his speeches frequently.Debdas Patra, a resident of Pritibha gram panchayat in Habra, said, “We are going to vote for the BJP as only it can save the Hindu community.”Also read: In Birbhum, TMC’s Muscle Power Has Become a Weakness as Voters Look for ChangeThe Wire also observed that TMC’s organisation is strong in Habra. Party flags, banners and placards are all over the constituency while the BJP is far behind.Many civil society groups like the joint forum against the National Register for Citizens and a people’s campaign, ‘NO VOTE TO BJP’ are actively organising street corner meetings, street plays and public meetings in Habra and surrounding areas. These groups are actively campaigning to vote out the BJP.BarrackporeBarrackpore is a seat which comprises 60% Bengali and 40% non-Bengali speaking residents, making it an interesting seat in the ongoing election. The seat is divided into two parts – one part comes under the Titagarh municipality, and the rest comes under the Barrackpore municipality.The BJP and TMC candidates makes the contest intriguing. TMC turncoat Shilbhadra Dutta was a two-time MLA from this seat. However, the saffron party has not nominated Dutta from Barrackpore this time. The BJP has instead nominated Chandramani Shukla, father of BJP worker Manish Shukla who was killed in October 2020. Sympathy for Manish’s murder and Chandramani Shukla’s image are working in the BJP’s favour.Guddu Kumar of Titagarh ward number 1, said, “Chandramani Shukla is a renowned doctor in the area, so he already has a positive image. On top of that, his son’s murder also garnered a lot of sympathy in the region.”Ravi Pandey, BJP mondal secretary, said, “Our Barrackpore candidate is very strong because of his image. People are looking for someone who will be able to work in the area. They don’t trust a celebrity coming from Kolkata.”The TMC has nominated popular Bengali filmmaker Raj Chakraborty from Barrackpore. Chakraborty is running an extensive door-to-door campaign as well as an intense social media campaign through innovative videos, interactive sessions and personalised messages.Among the Bengalis, the reporter observed that a sentiment against bohirogoto (outsiders) is prevailing. Mintu Das said, “We don’t want to elect an outsider’s party in Bengal, also we don’t want to elect a non-Bengali person from Barrackpore.”When asked about the large section of non-Bengali-speaking residents living in Barrackpore, Das replied, “There is no problem in them residing here, we all stay together happily. But Bengalis are still the majority in this area. So, we prefer a Bengali representative from Barrackpore.”AmdangaTwo-time TMC MLA Rafiqur Rahman from Amdanga is trying his luck for the third time. The constituency has over 50% Muslim population.In this assembly, the fight is between the incumbent TMC and the newly formed Indian Secular Front (ISF). ISF nominated Jamal Uddin, a local businessman, from the Amdanga seat.Also read: Bengal’s Matuas Are Caught Between BJP’s Identity Politics and the Citizenship ConcernRahman is very confident of winning the seat for the third time and said, “I was always there with my people in their times of need. No one can charge me with corruption. The BJP is trying to polarise this seat by playing communal cards, but that won’t work here. Because of my popularity, I will get a large share of Hindu votes.”When asked about ISF cutting into TMC’s minority votes, Rahman reluctantly said, “Their party is not even four months old, they don’t even have an organisation. Hence, I am not even considering them.”Speaking to The Wire, BJP MP Arjun Singh said the Amdanga is the only seat in Barrackpore which the BJP is unlikely to win. “Because of over 50% Muslim population, winning this seat is a little difficult for us. However, if ISF cuts into TMC’s votes, then we can still win this seat.”Going around the constituency of Amdanga, The Wire observed that there is hardly any BJP presence. Most people seemed to believe that TMC will retain the seat.
