West Bengal civic polls: Why Left is pulling out all stops

The CPM pamphlets and posters have a clear message — “Nijer Vote Nije Din (Cast your vote yourself)’’, a reference to the fear that the ruling Trinamool workers may capture booths.

Dasgupta says while there is no official alliance between the Left, Congress and BJP, the three parties will “stand together’’ against the TMC’s hooliganism. “If the election is fair, we stand a good chance. Every voter should be allowed to cast his or her vote. Our fear is that the TMC miscreants will disrupt the democratic process,” he says.

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Earlier this year, in the local elections in Siliguri, the Left and Congress formed an “unofficial’’ alliance, ensuring that they won their strongholds. The result: the Left won 23 of the 47 wards and former CPM minister Ashok Bhattacharya became mayor, while the TMC trailed with 17 wards. It was the first inroad that the CPM made into Trinamool bastion since its defeat in 2011.

Senior CPM leader and former urban development minister Gautam Deb says the Siliguri “alliance” is not a “model” as “Salt Lake is not Siliguri’’. However, the word on the streets in Kolkata is that the parties — including the BJP this time — have an implicit understanding that the TMC must be defeated.

Deb admits this is the Left’s stand. “It doesn’t matter who wins — our endeavor is to remove Trinamool from Bengal at any cost,’’ he says. He adds that the main issue is “whether the elections will be held peacefully and without interference”.

Explaining why he is contesting the local polls, Dasgupta says the objective is to revive the Left’s old policy of “decentralisation’’ and to “go back to the people so that we can create a people’s movement and remake and revive the image of the Left’’.

Deb is more candid. “It’s very simple. The reason why a former finance minister is being fielded is that we need a foothold. He is that face… Once we have gained a foothold, we will plan ahead and see what can be done in the next six months before the assembly elections,’’ he says.

Deb rules out any alliance with the BJP. But his party has pegged its ambition of coming back to power on the BJP. “What happens in the assembly elections will not depend so much on the Bidhannagar municipal elections as on what the BJP does over the next six months. The BJP captured 17 per cent of the popular vote in the last election. Twenty-seven per cent of the rural population in Bengal are Muslims who will never vote for the BJP. So it is fair to say that the BJP captured 32 to 34 per cent of the urban vote… To go with the BJP or not will be a Hobson’s choice for Mamata Banerjee,’’ says a senior Left leader.

Despite the Left’s claims that the Salt Lake election should not be seen as a precursor to the assembly polls, with the addition of Rajarhat, Gopalpur and Mahishbathan II panchayat, the Bidhannagar municipality’s new semi-urban semi-rural composition can be seen as representing what is likely to happen in the state.

The municipal polls were to be held in April, but were postponed as the Trinamool government insisted that the new semi-rural areas should be added to the urban Salt Lake. The TMC lost as many as 21 of the 25 wards in Salt Lake in the last polls. TMC detractors say the reason behind the addition of the new areas is to increase the Trinamool’s vote base.

But despite the Left’s claims, anti-incumbency seems absent in this part of Kolkata. The fight seems to be positioned between the ruling TMC supported by Salt Lake’s Bengali population, while its sizeable non-Bengali business population seems to tilt towards the BJP.

“My ward is essentially a TMC area, although most non-Bengalis in Salt Lake are BJP supporters. The Bengalis, however, will never vote for a party that bans beef… We are satisfied with what the TMC has done. Salt Lake is cleaner, looks prettier. There are more parks for senior citizens and the TMC, in some ways, has been much better for business. I have never had to pay a bribe to anyone, although Salt Lake is definitely privileged and the situation may be different in other areas of Kolkata,” says Rahul Arora, 33, who owns a cafe in the area.

Incumbent vice chairman of Bidhannagar municipality and TMC’s candidate from Ward 31 claims that he has barely been out to campaign. “I have been sleeping at home mostly. My people have been handling everything for me. We know we are going to win — it’s as simple as that… It’s actually embarrassing. I have had to put up Left and BJP flags and have asked them to hold meetings so that it doesn’t look like a one-party election,’’ Sabyasachi Dutta claims, laughing.

A BJP podium has been put up near the Trinamool’s office. The meeting is to begin at 7 pm. But around that time, Trinamool supporters gather at a distance. Residents gather in groups, but nobody occupies the chairs placed before the podium. The presence of TMC supporters ensures that nobody actually comes, the chairs remain empty, and by 8.30 pm the meeting is declared cancelled.

The BJP has alleged that their candidates have been threatened by the TMC. BJP candidate from ward 27 Soumen Tarafdar has alleged that he was held at gunpoint by “Trinamool goons’’ who threatened to harm his child if he did not withdraw his nomination.

“This is just one instance. Our candidates have been beaten up by the TMC. They obviously feel threatened by us,’’ says BJP media convener Krishanu Mitra.