Nandigram is where the top-billed, no-holds-barred electoral fight is on, the epi-centre of the political battle for a set of five assemblies – three in the South and two in the East, cutting across borders and gaining the maximum political heat. Campaigning for the constituency has ended on Tuesday, alongside other constituencies in the second phase of the polls in West Bengal, leaving a bitter taste and raising hopes for victory for rival sides — the ruling Trinamool Congress or the BJP.
‘Wounded tigress’ Mamata Banerjee set on a wheelchair is mindful of the seriousness of the fight as the BJP shouts from the roof-tops that the battle for West Bengal’s future is fought and decided precisely in Nandigram. A defeat for the chief minister there would likely seal her political fate and give the BJP a big shot in the arm if its high-profile candidate Suvendu Adhikari wins. The huge rally that Union Home Minister Amit Shah led before the campaign’s end has put Banerjee on notice. The pendulum in Nanidgram can swing either way.
The BJP gathered strength steadily in recent years in West Bengal due to the omissions and commissions of Banerjee. For one, strong leaders like Adhikari left her camp and joined the BJP bulwark because of the increasing importance that the CM started giving to her nephew, Abhishek Banerjee, at the expense of other seniors. At the same time, it is not easy wishing away the huge clout of Mamata. She skillfully raised the “Bengal’s daughter versus the largely Hindi belt BJP leadership” imagery to win fresh mass support in the present elections. That the BJP took the fight very seriously is evident from the repeated forays that PM Modi, Amit Shah and several other central ministers made to West Bengal to boost the saffron party’s chances.
Caught in between is the Congress-CPI-M alliance, a contradiction in ideological terms. It will not be easy for both the parties to sell to the public the new-found bonhomie among them after their bitter political war lasting four decades. This is a reason why what were once heavyweights in state politics, the Congress and the CPl-M led Left are languishing on the sidelines. People are bound to see through unprincipled political alliances, and this might be to the advantage of the saffron sharks. Strategically, the BJP effectively tied down the CM to her own constituency for the large part, leaving her less time to attend a state-wide campaign till now. An encore for the Trinamool Congress and Banerjee is still a strong possibility.