“O Didi, bhalo achho? Lakshmir Bhandar peyechho? Ashirbad koro (How are you, sister? Did you get Lakshmir Bhandar (a monthly financial assistance scheme for women). I need your blessings).” Perched on an open jeep, hands folded, Mahua Moitra urges a group of women standing in a huddle near their homes. “Haan, peyechhi. Tumi bhalo achho (Yes, got it. How are you doing?),” comes the reply. Then they extend their hands, which is clasped by Moitra. The Trinamool Congress (TMC) firebrand is criss-crossing the Krishnanagar Lok Sabha constituency through the highway and narrow village roads across the Nadia district. Moitra has again got the TMC ticket from the seat despite being disqualified from the Lok Sabha in December last year in connection with the alleged cash-for-query case. She seems to be in a hurry to get back her seat, mounting a vigorous, high-voltage campaign. It’s not even 9 am, but the blazing sun is already beating down on the streets of Krishnanagar. The Tropic of Cancer cuts across this part, and it manages to make its presence felt. The temperature, above 40°C, feels much more. Moitra, wearing a blue cotton sari paired with her trademark full-sleeved blouse, seems undeterred by the heat, as she takes the flaring village roads off the Karimpur-Krishnanagar highway. In short, precise sentences, she briefs her team on the day’s agenda. “Just say on the mike that your candidate Mahua Moitra has come to meet you. Nothing else, not even slogans against the BJP. Keep it simple,” she instructs them. The party workers and villagers swarm around the expelled MP, who is, according to the wall graffiti and loudspeaker announcements, the “ghorer meye, kaajer meye (hardworking, neighbourhood girl)” of Krishnanagar. Recently, the CBI raided her premises and the ED filed a fresh FIR against her in the alleged cash-for-query case. Yet, while canvassing on village roads or discussing her campaign strategies with her team at night, none of that makes any ripples. Does she think her expulsion from Parliament will affect her campaign? “Rubbish! You’ve seen my area. Does anyone even realise I’ve been expelled or suspended? Nobody cares,” she claims. In the 2019 polls, Moitra had defeated the BJP’s Kalyan Chaubey by 63,208 votes. This time, she is pitted against the BJP’s Amrita Roy, who belongs to the erstwhile ruling family of Krishnanagar — one of the candidates with whom Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a telephonic conversation recently. Krishnanagar has been a TMC stronghold, where the party won all of its seven Assembly segments in the 2021 West Bengal polls. Moitra is looking to get significant leads from the Muslim-dominated segments of Kaliganj, Chapra and Nakashipara, although a keen contest is expected in the other four Assembly seats including Tehatta, Palashipara, and Krishnagar city (North and South). She is also banking on the formidable TMC organisation in Krishnanagar, which she leads as the district president. Moitra has plans to visit each of the over 1,800 booths, shake as many hands and reach out to as many voters as possible throughout the constituency, which is going to polls in the fourth phase on May 13. She had been an MLA from Karimpur and MP from Krishnanagar for a decade. As she leads one bike rally after another across the highway, there is hardly a minute to breathe and splash some water on her dust-laden face. “I’m trying to touch 1,841 booths, 82 gram panchayats. I know each of the booths. Personal connect and eye contact is key. I have been doing this for years now,” she says, insisting everyone on the open jeep should keep their heads covered from the heat. She playfully plucks drumsticks from moringa trees that line the road, the bunch growing bigger as the day progresses. It would go to her Karimpur home to be cooked into a light torkari (stew). “I love shojne danta (drumsticks),” she says. As her convoy is about to enter another village, it’s time for a touch-up. She bends discreetly to apply her Bobbi Brown lipstick carefully, “How can I be without my lipstick?” Moitra is ready to face the world again. Her voters know this is the time to approach Didi with their problems. An elderly couple beckons her from their doorstep and requests a wheelchair for their physically-challenged son, another person appeals for an e-rickshaw. Moitra hears them out, asks local leaders to take notes and asks them to get in touch after the polls. Then there are the selfie requests, which are obliged with the alacrity of a veteran. As the day progresses, some shortcomings in the roadshow are noted. The e-rickshaws that are part of it are too slow. “Whose idea was to include totos (e-rickshaws)? Next time, get a chhoto hati (mini truck). Totos can’t keep up, and we have a lot of villages to cover,” she tells her team sternly. Clearly, Moitra is micromanaging the entire show. “I am the district president, the campaign manager and the campaigner. It comes easily to me as I have a very process-oriented mind. So I can easily put in place things like time and systems management,” she says. Does her telling-off affect party workers? “She is always like this — very strict. But we like her that way. Our candidate and our party workers are campaigning tirelessly. We hope to increase our win margin this time,” says Tapas Kumar Saha, TMC MLA from Tehatta, who is accompanying her on the jeep. As the first leg of the roadshow ends at around 1 pm, she heads back to her Karimpur home. A lunch of bhindi and dal is served swiftly, along with a mochar torkari (banana flower curry). After a short nap, by 4 pm, Moitra is out again, this time for Chapra, with local MLA Rukbanur Rehman for company. The evening outreach is larger in scale. Over 200 youths in motorcycles gather to welcome her in an open field. The roadshow heads from one village to another, swelling on the way. Ayesha Bibi, a homemaker from Alpha, appears to be charmed by Moitra. “See the way she talks to us,” says Ayesha. At about 8 pm, Moitra’s Krishnanagar office is buzzing with activity. It is an old, two-storied, Bengali-style building. In the courtyard, rolled up and ready for delivery, lay a pile of posters, placards and hoardings. The “war room” is run by a group of youths who are busy on their laptops. The photos from today’s campaign have to be shared on her social media handles. Moitra huddles with her “young warriors”, members of her team, signing documents, discussing the campaigning and passing instructions.
