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5 reasons why Nandigram is the biggest battle for Mamata in her 40-year political career

Mamata Banerjee’s decision to contest from Nandigram came after her former protege Suvendu Adhikari, who won the seat in 2016, defected to the BJP.

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Kolkata: When West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee announced in January that she would contest the 2021 assembly election from Nandigram, it was described variously as a masterstroke, a sign of desperation, and a calculated move.

Her decision came after her former protege Suvendu Adhikari, who won the seat in 2016, defected to the BJP. In light of this, it has even been said that Mamata probably played into the BJP’s hands by abandoning her home turf of Bhawanipore in south Kolkata in favour of Nandigram.

On the eve of the election in Nandigram, which votes Thursday in the second phase of the West Bengal polls, one thing is clear — the battle for the Purba Medinipur seat will offer one of the most definitive fights this election season.

For Mamata, especially, it is a contest that will serve as a test of her political spurs against a leader whose strategic acumen once made him one of her most trusted aides. 

It is in the Nandigram ring that she will look to prove her mettle against a “party of outsiders” that has made a quick journey from irrelevance in the state to being her strongest competitor. 

It will also be within this theatre that she will seek to demolish the BJP’s portrayal of her as a “pro-Muslim leader”, and prove the secular credentials she pitches as a weapon against the rival party’s “hate politics”.

Here are 5 reasons why the battle for Nandigram is the biggest for Mamata, who led the Trinamool Congress to two consecutive sweeps in the state in 2011 and 2016, the first of which spelt the end of three decades of Left rule.


Also Read: Job-starved Bengal wants employment & not free ration, says Mamata shouldn’t have let Tatas go


A political fight that is also deeply personal

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee left Bhawanipore, her two-term constituency, to contest from Nandigram. It appears to be a calculated move. Nandigram is one of the two cradles of land acquisition protests, the other being Singur, that earned her the image of Bengal’s “agni kanya (fiery woman)” and propelled her to power. 

In a polarised election like this one, Didi had to return to the roots of her rise to political prominence. 

She probably chose Nandigram because Adhikari, 16 years her junior, challenged her to a direct contest. 

When Adhikari quit the party and joined the BJP, Mamata is believed to have seen it as “treachery”. In the Trinamool Congress, he was in charge of half a dozen districts. She knows him as a mobiliser and organiser, and is aware of his political acumen. 

Mamata was left with no choice other than to accept the challenge, as a way to prove her political supremacy in the state. 

A message to cadres

As Didi sees it, Suvendu’s defeat in Nandigram will prove a blow to his political career and help control the BJP’s aggression in the state. If she pulls through in Nandigram, she will be able to motivate her party cadres, who may have been left with some questions amid the several defections from the Trinamool to the BJP. She probably expects many of those who left will return to the fold. 

A loss in Nandigram, meanwhile, could deal an irreparable blow to her 40-year political career and the Trinamool Congress. 

Suvendu’s victory in Nandigram could be seen as a referendum on the allegations lobbed at Mamata and her party — extortion of welfare beneficiaries in the form of cut money, syndicate raj, and nepotism, stemming from the allegedly growing clout of her nephew, MP Abhishek Banerjee, within the Trinamool Congress. 

Staking claim to the anti-land-acquisition movements

Mamata Banerjee is known nationally for leading the Left-era anti-land-acquisition movements in Singur and Nandigram. In the Nandigram campaign, Suvendu has always been seen as her general and not the leader of the movement. However, he is believed to have played the most important part in spearheading the movement. 

Suvendu, whose ancestral residence in Kanthi is 50-odd kilometres from Nandigram, portrays himself as the “bhumi putra (son of the soil)”. He has accused the chief minister of using Nandigram as a ladder to achieve her political goal and then deserting the place. 

A big part of Mamata’s campaign push in Nandigram is proving that she is the actual architect of the movement, and not the Adhikari family.


Also Read: ‘Begum’ Mamata vs BJP ‘rioters’ – how high-profile Nandigram battle has taken a communal turn


Proving her secular credentials 

Just over 30 per cent of the population in Nandigram is believed to be Muslim.

The day Mamata announced her wish to contest from Nandigram, Suvendu said she would be relying on a “30 per cent” section comprising “63,000 voters”. 

In the subsequent days, Mamata went on a temple tour in the area and performed ‘Chandi Path’ on stage. She went to the extent of referring to herself as the daughter of a “Hindu Brahmin”. Sub-consciously or very consciously, Mamata appeared to have taken note of Suvendu’s jibe and begun efforts to counter it. If she loses Nandigram, the BJP might use it to challenge her “secularism” claims.

Her injury 

In one of the most controversial episodes of this election, on 10 March, Mamata sustained an injury while attending a public rally at Nandigram’s Birulia Bazaar in a car, with her door open.

What exactly happened remains disputed. A police report based on preliminary investigations claimed it was an accident, and said she got injured when the car hit a pillar. Mamata has described it as an attack and alleged Adhikari’s involvement. The Trinamool Congress has cited a police reshuffle in the state in the preceding days to allege it was a deliberate attack.

After the incident, Mamata was rushed to Kolkata’s SSKM Hospital and discharged two days later. Since then, she has been seen campaigning in a wheelchair. Party insiders have sought to project this as a sign of Mamata’s resilience, saying she will win the elections with a “broken leg”.

Edited by Sunanda Ranjan


Also Read: It’s not only Bengal election, Mamata win will set right tone for secular country: TMC leader


 

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