Much at stake in Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha seat for TMC's Abhishek Banerjee

Abhishek’s elevation to the rank of TMC general secretary in 2021 and his increasing influence in decision-making is said to have been facing resistance among a section of leaders.

Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha constituency in West Bengal shot into prominence in recent times largely with the rise of Abhishek Banerjee, nephew and heir apparent to Trinamool Congress (TMC) chairperson Mamata Banerjee. His followers believe that a third-in-a-row victory for their 36-year-old “general” is a foregone conclusion; what matters is the additional margin and his vote share.

In 2019, Abhishek defeated his closest contender from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by more than 3.2 lakh votes. While the winner got over 56% of vote share, the runner-up collected around 33.4 percent.

The change in the state’s political fortune was reflected in this constituency, with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI(M) candidate and a popular medical practitioner from Kolkata, Fuad Halim, ending with less than 94,000 votes (6.7 percent share). Meanwhile, the Congress nominee could not muster even 20,000 votes (1.4 percent).

In the last Lok Sabha election, the constituency recorded a voter turnout of 14,09,002 or 81.96 percent of its total number of 17,19,190 electors. In 2024, the Congress is supporting CPI(M)’s Pratikur Rahaman against BJP nominee Bobby Kumar Das and TMC candidate Abhishek Banerjee.

While six of the assembly segments of this Lok Sabha constituency are in South 24 Parganas district, one falls in Kolkata. All these seven seats were won by TMC in the 2021 assembly elections.

In the earlier Lok Sabha election of 2014, the debutant TMC leader won by a margin of more than 71,000 votes, garnering about 40.3 percent share, that time over CPI(M)’s Abul Hasnat, who got about 34.7 percent of the total mandate polled in the constituency.

The seat has alternated between the Communists and the Congress since the first Lok Sabha election held here in 1952. But since 1967, it has been a CPI(M) fortress that the TMC breached in 2009 with Some Mitra as its candidate.

Meanwhile, the Indian Secular Front (ISF), floated just before the West Bengal assembly election of 2021, has nominated Maznu Laskar from Diamond Harbour. ISF chairman Nawsad Siddique, after his much-hyped announcement to fight against Abhishek, had an apparent change of heart in early April.

Siddique currently is an MLA from Bhangar, the lone assembly seat his party won in 2021 in alliance with the Left and Congress. It was in fact the only seat represented by the alliance in the state’s legislative assembly. But the tie-up broke during seat sharing talks for Lok Sabha with Siddique reportedly seeking at least eight of the state’s 42 Lok Sabha seats from the Left-Congress combine.

With about 38 percent of the area’s population being Muslim, some political analysts see a division in anti-BJP votes, while others contend that the minority community usually votes en masse.

TMC cadres here hail Abhishek's efforts at promoting Diamond Harbour as a "model constituency". They say that this Parliamentary seat today is a symbol of development with significant addition to infrastructure, education, and healthcare. The party also projects the “effective implementation” of various welfare schemes as evidence of good governance.

However, the opposition parties cry foul, alleging intimidation, violence, and malpractice in the constituency, especially during polls.

Through this short period, Abhishek has matured into a skilled politician, taking much of the organisational work and introducing technology and modernisation to run party affairs. He is credited to have convinced Mamata into accepting the services of political consultant Prashant Kishor and later (that time) his I-PAC group. Despite some efforts by party leaders who complained against “corporatisation” and meddling by “outsiders” in internal affairs, the consulting firm remains firmly rooted in West Bengal, even after the official exit of Kishor from its affairs.

Abhishek’s elevation to the rank of TMC general secretary in 2021 and his increasing influence in decision-making is said to have been facing resistance among a section of leaders. They hold him responsible for the exit of some elders and for the “old vs new” divide. Reports suggest that he was not in favour of some aging leaders contesting Lok Sabha election this time but acceded to his aunt’s wishes.

On the other hand, his followers call Mamata their “leader” (it is accepted among her party members that her face still runs the party wagon) and the younger Banerjee their “general” – whatever that implies.

During the Covid pandemic and its aftermath, Abhishek ensured strict enforcement of health protocols and medical attention in his constituency, even as the state government allowed festivals and rituals to be followed. While Diamond Harbour was under regular lockdowns under the pandemic shadow, the famous Gangasagar Mela was underway a few kilometres away where thousands of devotees take a holy dip at the confluence of the Ganges and the Bay of Bengal.

Due to its location on the delta, British occupiers earlier used this as a major port. Diamond City today forms a popular tourist resort, with cruises, and spots like the remains of a Portuguese Fort, a lighthouse, etc. – all less than 50 km from Kolkata.

Many tourists visit the Sharisha Ramakrishna Mission Ashram here. Diamond Harbour also has various manuscripts and stone images of Lord Buddha, Lord Mahavir and Lord Vishnu.

The Lok Sabha constituency will go to polls on June 1 in the seventh and last phase of current election.