Battleground Nandigram: Its officially Mamata Banerjee versus her one-time protege, Suvendu Adhikari

Once considered to be a pivot in changing the 35-year-Left Front rule in West Bengal, Nandigram is yet agin at the heart of the state’s biggest political battle this poll season.

The non-descript village, 160 km from Kolkata, is all set to witness a “war of political survival” between its two prime candidates - Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her one-time protege turned bete noir, Suvendu Adhikari.

While Banerjee is expected to file her nomination papers on March 10, the BJP named Suvendu as their “candidate from Nandigram” on Saturday evening, making the fight official.

As political analysts say, it will be the battle between the mass leader, fondly called ‘Didi’ by her followers, and her biggest mass mobiliser, Suvendu - called ‘Dada’ by the locals there.

The rise of two leaders

A violent anti-land acquisition movement in 2007, and the subsequent death of 14 villagers in police firing, saw the rise of two prominent leaders then.

Mamata Banerjee, at that point struggling for political relevance after a landslide win for Left Front, resurrected her political fortunes backing the anti-land acquisition movement. She lent the campaign its face and made it a national issue.

The second leader incidentally was Suvendu Adhikari. A son-of-the-soil who spearheaded the movement on-ground by practically setting up an anti-land acquisition resistance committee called Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Committee (BUPC). Suvendu was the muscle behind the movement.

Continued resistance led to the then Chief Minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee chiding local strong Lashman Sheth, take the onus of the killings and shift the proposed chemical hub project.

“Mamata’s grit and Suvendu’s mass mobilisation challenged the domination of the Left. It sowed the seeds of the new political force; the rise of Trinamool,” said a political commentator requesting anonymity.

Subsequently, Suvendu emerged as the strongman in the region, firmly backed by the party supremo, Banerjee. The region became “virtually opposition-less” as Suvendu and his family members, the Adhikaris, became all-encompassing in the East Midnapore region.

Growing apart

The political equations changed with the rise of Abhishek Banerjee, Mamata’s nephew in the Trinamool Congress.

Despite Mamata repeatedly harping that “Suvendu was my protégé” and “party’s next-generation leader”, Abhishek was seen as the now-dominant face.

Unhappy at being sidelined and with prime posts being taken away from him (some favouring Abhishek), Suvendu revolted.

After months of dilly-dallying, he joined BJP in the presence of the Union Home Minister. BJP insiders claim Suvendu as “the jewel in their crown”.

The outgoing fight

The fight was soon out in the open. Trinamool put its might in branding Suvendu as a “traitor” and putting up hoardings or bad-mouthing him in public. Suvendu retorted as he “started blurting out his former party and party colleagues’ secrets”.

Finally, he “dared” Mamata Banerjee to contest from Nandigram. Banerjee accepted the challenge almost immediately.

If sources are to be believed, Mamata has pitched herself as a “apnader meye” (your daughter), taken four houses on rent at four corners of the constituency, and will “be in the constituency from March 9 onwards”.

Suvendu, on the other hand, falls back on his roots and about how he was born and brought up in Nandigram. He has played the “outsider card” on Mamata while claiming himself as “the original bhoomiputra” (son of the soil).

“It is bhoomiputra versus bohiragoto (outsider). Its a battle between a village boy (himself) and that big city politician,” he said recently.

According to political experts, this battle will make-or-break any one of their careers.

Constituency composition

Interestingly Nandigram has a near 30 per cent Muslim voter-base. The constituency has 17 gram panchayats with 241 panchayat members, controlled by Trinamool Congress.

It has 355 booths, and with Suvendu switching over to the saffron camp, the BJP is believed to have a “booth-level presence” in majority of these.

In the 2016 assembly elections, Suvendu - who stood there on a Trinamool ticket, won Nandigarm with over 67 per cent vote share.

In the 2019 general elections, Trinamool, with Suvendu managing polls there, ensured a convincing lead.

The Left-Congress alliance, which has the influential Muslim cleric, Abbas Siddiqui and his political outfit, ISF, as a partner, is yet to declare a candidate in the “high voltage constituency”.

“You cannot rule out that there will be voting on religious lines and also that Mamata Banerjee still has the administration and allied machinery in her grip. All this will play out in determining the winner,” a political analyst said.

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