Rebels lay siege to migratory Munshi’s nest

Interestingly, he chose Raigunj for much the same reason that he left Howrah: his small margin of victory. That has also been the CPI(M)’s headache here the Marxist candidate, Subrata Mukherjee, won this seat in 1996 by just about 11,000 votes.

The local Congress hopefuls were therefore upbeat about this seat this time. They were naturally angry when Das Munshi hijacked it from them. “It’s an insult to local Congress leaders to impose an outsider on them,”says the veteran of many battles here and the Congress nominee of 1991 and 1996, Dr Golam Yazdani.

The good doctor, as he is seen here, has not taken it lying down. Defying the party, he is in the fray, as a candidate of Laloo Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal. “My party is not the factor here, but I am. I know the election machinery inside out,’ he says.

It is certainly not all empty boasting. Yazdani was elected from here two times — in 1984 and 1989 — but as a CPI(M) candidate. Although he failed to keep it up when he joined the Congress, he garnered enough votes to make it a close run for the CPI(M).

As if Yazdani’s anger were not enough, Das Munshi has to contend with another party rebel, Sayesta Abedin. He may be a novice, but he is the son of another local Congress heavyweight, Dr Zainal Abedin, who was the leader of the Congress legislature party in the State Assembly for a long time.

“I have nothing to do with my son’s candidature. He is a grown-up man and it’s his decision,” ZainalAbedin says. But no one believes him.

Das Munshi tries to put up a brave face: “Congress supporters do not vote for individuals; they vote for the party. As a matter of fact, it’s true of the CPI(M) and now the BJP as well.”

That is generally true of West Bengal politics, but in a close race even a few thousand votes polled by the rebels may make the difference.

Naturally, the CPI(M) is hoping this to happen. The party knows that neither the outsider tag on Das Munshi nor the Yazdani-Abedin revolt is going to make a major dent in the Congress vote bank.

In fact, Das Munshi has made the backwardness of the region — and of the entire north Bengal — his major campaign plank. His flock tell people that he can make a difference because in the event of a Congress government in Delhi, he is sure to get a berth.

Das Munshi’s real worry is the BJP candidate, Rahul Sinha, who seems to have secured a strong ground in Raigunj town. But the growing popularity of the party has been more at the expense of theMarxists. Although the voting is generally not done on communal lines, the large Muslim population of the constituency — about 30 per cent has mostly remained with the Congress. But there are signs of chunks of Hindu votes moving away from the CPI(M).

Das Munshi, however, is much relieved that Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress left the field open to the BJP. He has managed to keep her supporters from throwing their weight behind the BJP. Also, her Muslim supporters have simply not joined the BJP campaign.

No wonder then Das Munshi hopes his flight from Howrah would prove justified. Privately, local CPI(M) leaders admit that Raigunj would be among the keenest contests in West Bengal this time.