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Journalism of Courage
The biggest coup de theatre on Bengal’s political stage was performed by the All India Congress Committee when it announced the name of Deepa Das Munshi as its official nominee to fight the mighty Mamata Banerjee of Trinamool Congress in the Bhawanipore assembly constituency in South Kolkata. When the AICC’s announcement came on March 16, Professor O P Mishra – the WBPCC general secretary and one of the chief architects of the Congress-CPM electoral alliance had completed two rounds of campaigning as the Congress’s candidate for Bhawanipore. There were a couple of wall writings too, in Bhawaniore constituency, declaring his candidature and on March 15, he had taken out a joint rally with CPM workers in the area.
In what seems to be a political coup within the Congress, Deepa Das Munshi upstaged O P Mishra – a professor of Jadvapur university of long standing and a Congress think tank. The embarrassment was glaring as Professor Mishra had to issue a public statement to explain what had made him think that he was the official nominee for the Bhawanipore seat – based on an announcement by the West Bengal Pradesh Congress chief – Adhir Chowdhury on March 8. Truly, the AICC was the final authority to clear the names of candidates for the state assembly polls and Adhir Chowdhury had no business to short circuit it. Not only Professor Mishra, but the party too, had to pay dearly for the mistake.
Deepa Das Munshi has moved in a house in Bhawanipore where she lives in her early university days. She has also begun to meet local CPM leaders and party cadres in a bid to mobilize them in her support though she had been one of the staunchest anti –alliance leaders in the Congress and along with Manas Bhuniya and propagated an “Ekla Cholo” (go it alone) policy. She has suddenly found merit in the alliance and is trying to capitalize on it.
Political analysts, however, do not see any threat to Mamata Banerjee having a smooth sail despite Deepa Das Munshi and the presence of the other heavyweight BJP candidate in Netaji kin – Chandra Bose. Deepa’s entry into the scene is being seen as a source of more fun and frolic than real fight. Deepa’s strength lies in her determination to fight till the end. She has nothing g to lose. Having analyzed the constituency and the municipal wards under it, independent observers say that the anti- TMC votes will be split between Chandra Bose and Deepa Das Munshi, making the passage easy for Didi.
