Suvendu Adhikari vs Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram: They are back exactly where it all started — Nandigram. To realize the intensity of one of the largest prestige battles becoming fought in between Suvendu Adhikari and his former boss Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram, one has to rewind more than a decade to know how they began. The year was 2007, the Left had returned to energy just a year ago with an even larger majority and Banerjee was nevertheless in the opposition benches with the seats coming down to half of what she had got in her maiden political debut below Trinamool Congress (TMC). Mamata was hunting for a explanation to make a comeback. Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, then Left chief minister, served one in the type of a planned land acquisition of about 10,000 acres for setting up an SEZ (for chemical factory) in Nandigram. Farmers opposed the move, which led to a confrontation with Buddhadeb’s police. At least 14 farmers died in police shootings – the starting of the finish of the Left had begun. Mamata captured the anti-land acquisition movement, and rest was history.
The obscure town stayed in the shadow of the land acquisition movement till Mamata and her then essential commander Suvendu Adhikari decided to have yet another round in the identical battlefield that propelled the duo to energy on the back of Nandigram.
So far, it was believed that Suvendu, who refers to himself as a son of the soil, was the man who galvanised unprecedented help for the movement and won the historic fight against the Left for Mamata. He had, no doubt, emerged as the second largest mass leader following Mamata in the TMC. But following he fell out with the chief minister final year more than what he even though was his rightful location — the chief minister post following her, the TMC leaders say that it was Mamata who was the face of the movement, not Suvendu — ‘Suvendu was just a lucky man at the right place at the right time’. They say everyone would have turn out to be Suvendu had he been in that location throughout the movement as folks rallied behind Mamata. Suvendu, of course, does not agree with this and says Mamata’s Singur failed in 2008. “Mamata gave leadership (in Singur). Singur failed in the first challenge. Mamata was thrown out by Buddhadeb’s police at the Second Bridge…and Suvendu gave leadership in Nandigram — people of Bengal know it better who failed and who passed,” Suvendu stated in an interview to India Today. History is going to repeat itself in Nandigram, exactly where the duo is locked in not just the toughest fights of their lives but also one of the most keenly watched prestige battles in Bengal.
ALSO Study | Who is Suvendu Adhikari? Why his fallout with Mamata Banerjee matters for TMC
Mamata is, by far, the most well-known mass leader in Bengal. Neither the BJP nor the Left has everyone who can match her stature, but in such a scenario, if Adhikari succeeds in pulling it by means of in Nandigram, it would be a massive setback for an individual who arguably represents the final remaining league of some of the feisty regional leaders taking the Centre head on below Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. But does Adhikari have a possibility in Nandigram?
“It’s a 50-50,” says Sambit Pal, Assistant Professor at IIMC and author of The Bengal Conundrum: The Rise of the BJP and the Future of the TMC. “The fight is very close. Quite difficult to call this election as yet…a lot will depend on how both the parties manage their booths on the day of election,” he adds.
Nandigram has about 30 per cent minority votes, Suvendu is confident that he will handle to get more than 50 of 70 % of remaining Hindu votes, and that is really considerably doable by his personal estimation. “Because Nandigram has now become very much polarised, the campaigning has been on very fierce communal lines — Suvendu has been openly saying Nandigram will become a mini Pakistan, Mamata Banerjee is depending on 30 per cent (Muslims) votes. He ( Suvendu) has been referring to the chief minister as Mamata Begum — every speech he is making and terms he is using are very much communal. Banerjee, in response, has tried to prove she is pro-Hindu, she has been chanting Chandi shlokas and visiting temples. On the day she was injured, she visited 12 temples — Mamata has fallen in the BJP’s trap,” the author adds.
Suvendu is a sitting MLA from Nandigram, which has been held by the TMC considering the fact that 2009. Nandigram falls below East Mednipur district, stated to be yet another stronghold of the Adhikari household which commands important influence in more than 30 assembly seats in the state. The BJP had won the Medinipur Lok Sabha seat in 2019 with its leader Dilip Ghosh securing 48.62 per cent votes against the TMC’s 42.31 per cent vote share, yet another explanation Suvendu is confident about winning Nandigram which falls below Medinipur. However, a lot has changed as Suvendu’s brother was attacked just the other day throughout the initially phase polling in portion of Medinipur, Pal reminds.
The TMC has bagged the Nandigram seat 3 instances, in 2009 (by-polls), 2011 and 2016. In 2016, Suvendu had defeated the Left’s Abdul Kabir Sekh by more than 80,000 votes. Suvendu had got 67.20 per cent votes, Left 26.70 and the BJP had to settle with just 5.40 per cent votes. While Suvendu claims it was his victory, his former party says Nandigram had voted for Mamata and TMC.
Nandigram will re-redefine the politics of Bengal with Mamata and Suvendu placing all their political capital at stake. Mamata left her former Bhabanipur constituency to contest from Nandigram, she is contesting on only one seat and a loss could nicely trigger a true leadership crisis for the TMC.
Building additional on what it had gained in 2019, the saffron party has thrown all its weight behind Suvendu in Nandigram, exactly where Union Home Minister Amit Shah held a enormous roadshow on the final day of campaign for Adhikari and thundered that he was winning Nandigram. Banerjee, as well, has been camping in Nandigram for the final 3 days but Amit Shah says it shows how insecure she is about her possibility. But if the BJP succeeds with the momentum constructed in the run up to campaign and phase one polling, Nandigram will set the tone for future phases boosting the morale of the saffron party cadres, who are currently really charged-up, to go for the kill.
Suvendu has carried out his calculation, he says the BJP in 2019 had leads in about 123 assembly seats. Of 16 seats in East Medinipur, the TMC had lead in 14 seats although the BJP was ahead in just 2. Adhikari says he will attempt to shift these 14 seats to the BJP. Similarly, West Medinipur has 15 seats — in 2019, the BJP had lead in 8 whereas the TMC was ahead in 7. This time, Adhikari says, he will attempt to shift these 7 seats to the BJP — total performs out at 21, which will take BJP’s total tally to 144, just 4 quick of crossing the majority mark in 294-member House. Whether this will play out as has been presented is one thing that will be recognized only on May 2.