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Journalism of Courage
A common sight that greets you in Kolkata’s northern suburb of Barrackpore is giant banners and posters with caricatures of Arjun Singh as “Palturam (turncoat)”. Next to him is a caricature of Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari offering the sitting MP a “BJP lollipop”, as Singh’s opponent Partha Bhowmik, the state PWD minister, enjoys the view, sitting on an “MP chair”.
What catches your eye is that these posters, put up by the TMC, are all in Hindi, a nod to Barrackpore’s significant population with roots in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
Situated on the eastern bank of the Hooghly, Barrackpore is a major industrial area once famous for its jute factories that drew thousands of workers from the Hindi belt. With several adjacent towns within the constituency, almost half of the voters are urban. Approximately 35% of the population mark Hindi as their mother tongue.
The city, which will vote on May 20, is also one of the epicentres of political violence in a state infamous for the same. It peaked between 2019 and 2021, due to the turmoil caused by Singh’s defection and the resulting turf war. For many residents, therefore, the coming election is about more than just choosing a candidate.
Like for Md Firoz, whose 10-year-old son was disabled after mistaking a bomb for a ball last year. “He had operations in both eyes, but his right eye still doesn’t have clear vision. He also lost a portion of his left hand. We have been running around for a ‘handicapped’ certificate. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had come to meet him at the hospital, but we didn’t get any aid from anyone. I don’t wish this pain on anyone, so I will vote for peace,” says Firoz.
Bahubali…
Singh, whose father was a three-term Congress MLA from Bhatpara, entered electoral politics via the 1995 Bhatpara Municipality councillor polls, on a Congress ticket. After leaving along with Mamata, when she launched the TMC in 1998, he won four Assembly polls from Bhatpara. Ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, denied a ticket by the TMC, Singh joined the BJP and won Barrackpore by 14,000 votes, defeating the TMC’s Dinesh Trivedi.
By the time of the 2021 Assembly elections, the TMC had regained its electoral muscle in the area, with the BJP winning only one Assembly seat under Barrackpore – Singh’s hometown of Bhatpara. A year later, Singh returned to the TMC, allegedly because his request to reopen jute mills was not heeded by the Centre. After 20 months, he again returned to the BJP after the TMC denied him a Lok Sabha ticket, and fielded Bhowmick instead.
“I am not a student who prepares for his exam the night before. I study the whole year… I’m with my voters 24×7, 365 days. They come with their problems, I resolve them,” Arjun Singh tells The Indian Express. He adds that it is wrong to say he is “banking on Hindi-speakers”. “My family has been here for over 140 years. I consider myself a Bengali.”
His challenger, Bhowmick, calls himself “a loyal TMC soldier”. “People are in love with Didi’s work. The BJP only does religious politics and creates disturbance.”
In Ghoshpara road of Shyamnagar, Prapti Singh, a young voter, says, “Barrackpore needs development… law and order will automatically improve… If UP’s law and order situation could be improved, why not Barrackpore’s?”
Ram Dhari Prasad, a jute mill worker in Naihati, says: “We’ve seen the CPI(M), Congress and TMC. It’s now time to vote for the BJP. Arjun Singh is there for us, no matter what, while the TMC is knee-deep in
corruption.”
…to ‘Palturam’
It’s no cakewalk, though. If Bhowmick stands a chance on the back of the TMC’s organisational might, many voters are unhappy with Arjun Singh repeatedly switching parties.
“What is the guarantee that he will remain in the same party?” says Wasim in Titagarh.
In between making brooms outside her small home in the Bhatpara jute mill quarters, Aarti Devi, 45, says, “I get direct money from the state government. I won’t ditch her (CM Mamata Banerjee). She is a woman, she thinks about women.”
The last time Titagarh resident Khurshid Alam, 60, held a regular job was 12 years ago. The former jute mill worker says: “The jute industry has perished. However, I feel the state government is doing its bit for women and the girl child. It’s important to think about people like us.”
A teacher in Halishahar argues: “Arjun Singh’s influence is confined to Bhatpara, one of the seven Assembly segments in Barrackpore. In
2021, he couldn’t help the BJP win the six other Assembly seats. Bhowmick is also a son of the soil. He’s the MLA from Naihati, which is one of Barrackpore’s Assembly segments. It’s a neck-and-neck fight.”
Zarina Begam, a voter in Titagarh, says the biggest question is whether they will be able to vote without any untoward incident. “Jaan
hai to jahan hai (Life is everything),” she says.
Pratap Singh in Noapara sums up the desire for “peace”. “Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, who wrote ‘Vande Mataram’, was born in Naihati. Today there is only violence and bombs. Whoever wins should focus on preventing crime.”
