Buddha’s number 2 reads the writing on the wall

Another cause for worry is the that he is up against a single main opponent. Raviranjan Chatterjee,a former head of the department of Bengali of Burdwan University,has been fielded by the Trinamool Congress. With few counting BJP candidate Sandip Nandy,Sen cannot hope for a division of opposition votes. The Congress may have fielded candidates against the Trinamool in some seats but it has kept out of Burdwan South.

Also,as Sen admits he knows,Burdwan too appears to be in the grip of the anti-incumbency wave sweeping the state.

“I can see all these things. We have a one-to-one fight,there is no dummy,and nobody can deny the anti-incumbency wave in the state,” Sen says. “But we will still scrape through,” he adds,sitting in the old CPM district office at Mubarak Building,Burdwan. It is a rickety structure compared to the swanky,new office at Shahedullah Vijay Bhavan on 2,Parcus Road.

If the Left Front does come to power,it will be wiser from past lessons and tougher,says Sen,who along with the Chief Minister pushed the party’s industrialisation programme despite setbacks such as Singur. “We tried to reason with the Opposition that the Singur project was very necessary. We did not take any tough measures because we had not anticipated the Opposition would become so destructive. We have learnt our lessons,” Sen says.

Sen has been the target of Mamata Banerjee herself. At a recent rally she asked people how many industries Sen has brought to Burdwan. None,the crowd roared. “Don’t worry. I will bring industries here,” she said.

Some residents too say Sen has done little for Burdwan. “Burdwan South comprises 35 wards of Burdwan municipality. You can see the area is so congested. While chasing industries he forgot his own home,which has seen no development. In fact he is not seen here at all. All he has done here is set up an electric crematorium,” says Rathin Mukherjee,a shopkeeper,one of the constituency’s 2.15 lakh voters.

His opponent was never been in active politics. He was involved with an NGO,Ganamukti Parishad,which opposed several policies of the Left Front Government. “One evening I got a call from Mamata Banerjee who asked me whether I was game for the contest. I said yes,” he says.

He says his fight is against not any leader but the way the Left has ruled for 34 years. “Look at education… they have politicised it completely.”