Has Mamata Banerjee erred by choosing Nandigram?

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Has Mamata Banerjee erred by choosing Nandigram to vanquish rebel Suvendu Adhikari, a former minister and Banerjee confidant, in his own den? Does she risk losing from Nandigram even if the Trinamool Congress (TMC) manages a good fight against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) elsewhere in West Bengal?

By deciding to stick to Nandigram till the polling gets over on April 1 as part of West Bengal’s second phase of voting, Banerjee has even curtailed her availability for campaigning in other constituencies.

So, why did Adhikari’s revolt rankle her personally so much, endangering her political prestige at stake?

The rumour is that after the voting gets over in Nandigram, Banerjee may decide to contest from a second, safer, seat.

Boot Out The Left

No doubt, Nandigram in 2021 is an important milestone for Banerjee — just the way it was in the run-up to the 2011 assembly elections. The small town, located in Purba Medinipur, was the scene of a violent agitation in 2007 against land acquisition by the Left-ruled government for industrial purposes. That violence left 14 dead in a police firing, leading to mass upsurge against the Marxist rule.

Ultimately, Banerjee turned Nandigram into a symbol of her three-decade-old fierce battle against the Left, and, in particular, against its last Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya.

The agitation that sprung from the agricultural fields of south West Bengal brought the curtains down on the 34-year-old Marxist rule in 2011. Banerjee’s electoral battle cry, “Ma Mati Manush” (Mother, Motherland and People) was born in Nandigram. It went on to help the TMC capture power and retain it for a second term in 2016. The Left leadership had made the ‘historical mistake’ of deploying its cadre to engage in a duel with Banerjee’s workers in a bid to push out the farmers who refused to part with their land for the project.

Since then, Banerjee’s political journey remained unchallenged because of a dismembered Left and diminished Congress — until the BJP sensed a vacuum in the opposition space and set its eyes on the state four years before the Lok Sabha polls of 2019.

The Adhikari Clan

Ironically, Adhikari spearheaded the agitation in Nandigram. He was Banerjee’s chief lieutenant not just for Nandigram but across the vast swathe of south West Bengal.

Adhikari was credited for the TMC’s electoral successes in the 2011 and 2016 assembly elections, and in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

The Adhikari clan is a highly-influential political family, which until recently was at Banerjee’s beck and call. Suvendu Adhikari’s father, Sisir Adhikari, was a minister in the Manmohan Singh government, and currently a TMC MP from Kanthi. Suvendu Adhikari’s siblings — Dibyendu Adhikari (currently MP from Tamluk) and Soumendu Adhikari (sacked administrator of Contai municipality) — formed formidable field generals for the TMC.

Mamata vs Suvendu

But all was well only till Suvendu Adhikari realised that he was losing out in the game of succession. Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee, who entered the Lok Sabha in 2014, gained more prominence, edging out many leaders — though Suvendu Adhikari, as a minister in her government handled transport, irrigation and water resources till he joined the BJP in November.

When Suvendu Adhikari staged a revolt and took away many TMC leaders and workers, Mamata Banerjee could not contain her ire. "I had given at least 10 plum postings to a single family and this is how they reciprocated, this is how they betrayed as venomous traitors," she rued.

This, perhaps, was what led to Mamata Banerjee deciding to contest from Nandigram, on Suvendu Adhikari’s home turf, leaving her own seat of Bhawanipur, which she has presented since 2011. Mamata Banerjee might have realised that it was a risky move when she went to file her nomination from Nandigram, which has a mix of Hindu and Muslim voters. She thought she would be able to pin down Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram and prevent his forays in other areas, but has ended up being pinned down.

With Suvendu Adhikari becoming BJP’s candidate, the campaign has seen a sharp polarisation on party and communal lines, with TMC workers expressing doubts about her win. Since then, Mamata Banerjee has been out to show that she is ‘more Hindu in thought, belief and practice’ than her rivals.

Desperate Measures

Forty-eight hours before the close of the campaign, Mamata Banerjee has realised that her campaign has remained blunted. So she chose to hit in the only way she knows — with bitter personal attacks — unmindful of political ridicule.

She has alleged that the 2011 Nandigram violence was stage-managed by Suvendu Adhikari and his family was in cahoots with the Left front government, which sparred them because of their proximity with Marxists. —and has warned that he could do similar stunts to defeat her. She also claimed that goons of the then ruling CPI(M) entered Nandigram in police uniform but wore slippers which gave away their identity.

Suvendu Adhikari responded to her remarks reminding Mamata Banerjee to read her own book on Nandigram where her views now were contrary to what she had written then.

Her allegations, however, stirred Bhattacharya to issue a statement. "Those behind the devious conspiracy at Singur and Nandigram are now divided in two groups and throwing muck at each other.”

The CPI(M) has fielded Minakshi Mukherjee, a relative lightweight, leading to speculations that it may prefer that Suvendu Adhikari loses Nandigram rather than Mamata Banerjee, to deny an advantage to the BJP.