2016 will tell if Trinamool Cong has won over north Bengal

From being a councillor in the Siliguri Municipal Corporation to Mamata Banerjee’s go-to man in north Bengal, Goutam Deb’s rise was meteoric.

In 2011, Deb defeated the CPI(M)’s Dilip Singh from the Dabgram-Phulbari constituency, which comprises parts of Siliguri, to assume charge of the newly-created Ministry of North Bengal Affairs.

The less-developed North Bengal has 54 constituencies – from Alipurduar in the north to Malda in the south. The Trinamool Congress is low on popularity here and had made inroads in 2011, ridding piggyback on a short-lived coalition with Congress.

Banerjee wanted to reverse the trend in 2016 through her development mantra. She not only created a separate ministry for the region, but also set up a North Bengal branch of the State secretariat in Siliguri, with Deb as the de-facto CEO.

Many challenges Naturally, his re-election against Dilip Singh in 2016 is a matter of prestige for Banerjee. Elections in this constituency are scheduled for April 17.

But the way to Deb’s victory is far from easy. From inner-party factionalism leading to defections, to a multi-crore scam in the Siliguri-Jalpaiguri Development Authority (SJDA), he has his hands full. His critics say Deb’s mercurial nature added to the problem.

He doesn’t deny the challenges. “There has been some dissidence within the party leading to cross-voting in the 2015 municipal elections. But it is taken care of,” he told BusinessLine . But most of the defections, he says, have “zero effects” in his constituency.

On the corruption issue, he plays with a straight bat. “There is no corruption charge against me,” he clarifies. “The government is investigating the issue and has already taken action against some involved in the SJDA scam. Can there be more transparency than this?” he asks.

He is confident of a win, riding on his achievements in pushing the development agenda, and shrewd political calculations.

In 2011, Deb scored a 12,000-vote lead over the nearest CPI(M) candidate.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, when the State witnessed an unprecedented surge of BJP votes, he ensured a lead of 8500 votes over the combined vote share of the Congress and CPI(M) in the Dabgram-Phulbari Assembly segment.

Calculated plans He is now hoping to enhance the lead, riding on the support of 20,000-30,000-odd Rajbanshis — an ethnic group in the region. The Kamtapur Progressive Party that spearheads Rajbanshi politics, has lent its support to TMC this election.

“We will get Congress votes too as many aren’t happy with the alliance (with the CPI[M]),” Deb says.

To foil his ambitions, the Opposition camp is focussing on dividing the votes of Rajbanshis, people of the hill origin, tea tribes and migrants from Assam.

The ‘tea tribes’ include plantation labourers who once migrated to area from the region that is today Jharkhand, Odisha and Chhattishgarh.

Development pitch What makes Deb particularly bullish about winning is the achievements of his ministry in pushing the development agenda.

He is confident that the list of roads, bridges, schools, colleges that have come up in last five years, the Kanyashree scheme (fiscal incentives to prevent child marriage and school dropouts of 14-18 year-old girls), and Sabuj Sathis (distribution of cycles to schoolchildren), will do the talking for him and the party.

“Between 2000 and 2011, the Left allotted just ₹360 crore in development projects in North Bengal. We pushed allocations to ₹1,300 crore in less than five years; and the result is visible,” he said. The party workers are now busy convincing voters that a loss for TMC would stall the development.

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