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| Gorakhpur: Can Yogi retain his hold? |
New Delhi, May 18 Political activism gaining momentum and as all eyes are on for crucial May 19 voting to nine parliamentary constituencies in West Bengal, the poll related violence is certainly back in national discourse.
Kolkata North, Kolkata South, Dum Dum, Barasat, Basirhat, Jadavpur, Diamond Harbour, Jaynagar and Mathurapur are to go for the polls on Sunday amid an unprecedented row between the ruling party in the state and the ruling party in the country – the BJP.
Old timers quoting statistics and ‘historical facts’ say the political violence in West Bengal is only a throwback to a culture that was unleashed in the state for three decades under the Left.
Not many in the national political circle and key hubs of the season such as Varanasi – from where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is contesting – can deny this argument.
Obviously, according to political observers, the poll process will come under more detailed scrutiny as Trinamool Congress and other opposition parties have also directed their tirade against the Election Commission.
The tumultuous late 1960s and early 1970s saw the Marxists ‘resist’ CRPF hegemony unleashed by the Congress. In later stage, says Varanasi-based history teacher Lajpat Raj Gupt, the communists controlled things and did exactly the same what they had opposed.
“Violence in Bengal elections became the order of the day as Left cadres indulged in 24X7 twelve month long electoral management. This came to known as scientific rigging,” he says.He further says at least 86 political workers were killed in clashes in 1988-89 and even after 20 years in 2009 Lok Sabha elections at least 963 poll-related violence were reported. This made 18 percent of the total national figures.
Agreeing with him, others say there came a time when people asked ‘where is West Bengal heading after three decades of Marxists rule’ – things seemed to have hardly changed yet again.
“We have the same question. Where is West Bengal heading after eight years of Mamata Banerjee rule? If not worse,” says BJP leader in the state Amitav Banerjee.
In this context, many say Mamata Banerjee’s legacy of Chhatra Parishad (student politics) could be also a trigger.
Under President’s Rule in 1970-72, the SS Ray-led Congress government backed by Indira Gandhi regime in Delhi and aided by the Congress-led Chhatra Parishad Students’ Union, repressed the Leftists, arresting, beating and killing hundreds indiscriminately.
Residents in Bengal’s townships like Raniganj and Durgapur say the culture of political violence in West Bengal also related to ‘land mafia and promoters’ nexus with political activists and leaders.
“A class of people came to be called promoters (involved in real estate). Many of these promoters were either at mercy of local Left leaders or were party functionaries themselves. Cadres supplied building materials and earned huge profits.” says Raniganj-based lawyer Dulal Sen adding under Trinamool this class became more powerful and came to be called 'Syndicate'.
Another statistics reveal that during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, wherein Mamata Banerjee reinforced her dominance - out of a total of 16 political workers killed across India – seven (that is almost half) related to poll violence in West Bengal.
Besides the ‘attack’ on BJP chief Shah’s roadshow this week, there have been reports of violence in other parts of the city too.
BJP’s new found leader and a candidate in Delhi – a Sufi singer Hansraj Hans was also prevented from addressing meetings in Kolkata on Tuesday.
Sources said Hansraj Hans had to cancel his scheduled meetings in two places in Kolkata.
Another Varanasi-based Bengali resident Sushanto Chakraborty says: “In more ways than one the continuing saga of violence in West Bengal reflect the continuance of the violence of 1970s in Bengal”.
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| Bengal: Writing on the wall and Legacy |
Apparently this school of thought suggests nothing has changed in West Bengal.
Tripura BJP leader and a state legislator Bhagwan Das echoes similar sentiment. Camping in Bhawanipur area in Kolkata and campaigning for the BJP nominees, he says: “I am surprised at the scale of violence unleashed by Trinamool goons. The violence here looks more dangerous than the Leftists-inspired violence we saw in Tripura during 25 years of CPI-M rule”.
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| Tripura legislator |
The contest between BJP and Trinamool appears to be ‘serious’ as all these nine seats were won by the Mamata Banerjee-led outfit in 2014.CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, however, does not want to concede that the BJP has enhanced its support base in the state – which till 2011 remained a red forte.“There is a tendency to believe that the fight is only between BJP and the Trinamool. It is not true, the Left candidates will snatch victory as footballer Messy can score goal,” Mr Yechury told a Bengali news channel.The importance of the electoral fray could be understand from the fact that on the last day of polling which ended on Thursday 2200 hours, Prime Minister held two poll meetings at Mathurapur and Dum Dum while Mamata Banerjee opted for road shows at Behala and Jadavpur areas of the city besides addressing a rally at Diamond Harbour.Yet, the Left may poll about 20 per cent of votes at the state level. But still there is no uncertainty as to whether these will help communists win any seat.In 2014 – the Left tally from Bengal was mere two.
What ails Congress and the Left? – A diagnosis by Varanasi voters
Varanasi (UP), May 17 The local residents of Varanasi – parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi – are fond of calling themselves ‘Kashi Vasis’.
The simpleton and hospitable people on the face value have enough political acumen. It is in tribute to the political understanding of faceless voters - 'Kashi Vasis' here that the Samajwadi Party candidate Shalini Yadav says – “BJP is doing a mistake in underestimating the political maturity and wisdom of the Varanasi voters”.
Her husband Arun Yadav gives the example of India’s most maverick politician Raj Narain and says: “It was Raj Narainji also rooted in ground reality of Kashi that he stunned the nation and could defeat Indira Gandhi once”.Speak to local sweet shop owners, weavers and students – everyone seemed to understand politics so well. Most fascinating part of it is people’s knowledge on political history and sharp analysis of things – both past and present.Now, coming to the question what went wrong with the Congress party in Uttar Pradesh and especially eastern UP – which seemingly has ‘solid Congress support’ – the local residential experts say – it would be equally important to review why the Left politics after making significant influence on north Indian society and politics ultimately failed.
“A major weakness of the Left in north was its inability to break the caste idiom. The local caste equations were left to so called socialists and individualistic approach ultimately produced casteist and self-centric leaders,” says history teacher Lajpat Raj Gupt.
He cited the domination of upper castes especially Brahmins in communist parties in West Bengal and how in Kerala – the CPI(IM) was state’s original ‘Hindu party’.
He further says: “Over the decades prior to Independence and even after the Left parties, groups and individuals failed to work unitedly. The Left also failed to make a deep of reality, the communists constantly overestimated their support among the people”.
In the case of Congress party – says Gupt – “My belief has been that there is no Congress party as an organisation in India especially after 1970s”.
True, as the battle for the May 19 hustings – last phase of polling - gains momentum, people attribute gradual decline of country’s oldest party to over centralisation or concentration of power in few hands.
“Narendra Modi might be talking about one family. The real problem in Congress does not lay in one family. It is in the politics where for decades – the powers have remained in few select hands. They survive every generation and class of Congress power centre,” says trader Mathura Chaudhary.
This school of thought cites the illustrations of Pranab Mukherjee to AK Antony to Ghulam Nabi Azad who ‘survived’ in becoming key players under all prime ministers – P V Narasimha Rao, Manmohan Singh and even under Rajiv Gandhi.
The same group of people are close to Sonia Gandhi and also Rahul Gandhi...As the same group of people survived, the organisation of the party began to be dominated by the Parliamentary wing, they say.
Agrees Chintan Prasad, a retired land revenue official, who says – “As power got centralised for decades Prime Minister also automatically became the manager of all intra-party conflicts and trials and tribulations”.
Another educationist Pramod Pal – who hails from Varanasi and works in Gorakhpur – says “It may sound very unusual today. The Congress image was identified closely with large landlords, musclemen, rich, capitalists and politico-bureaucratic combine”.
In this context, he also explains the rise of BJP especially in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
“By questioning the excessive power of government apparatus and willingness to fight for middle class after 1991 economic doldrums, the Lotus party drew the support of middle class”.
“This was huge,” says Mr Pal adding – “BJP finally emerged a party which worked out an alliance of middle class, pro-Hindutva religious group and in later stage the smaller caste groups left out of Dalit and Yadav hegemony”.
The Varanasi residents say while it is always important to woo voters who are ‘dissatisfied’ with the ruling dispensation – the Congress did a mistake in keeping most senior ministers as members of the Congress Working Committee too.
A similar formula was later repeated in the states as well wherein the party organisation was used by ‘rival factions’ only to gain control over the government.
“In more ways than one, some of our predictions have come true about Congress. It got itself identified with the government machinery completely, and when the government is lost, the Congress came on the verge of disappearance despite an overwhelming support for the party still remaining on ground,” says Ajay Lal, another old timer in the city.
On the context of communism movement, Mr Lal says: “The Leftists also fought Congress often on wrong issues and when it came to the crunch, it was either forced to trail behind Congress leadership like under Indira Gandhi. The communists unlike the BJP or right wing politicians failed to show ideological and tactical flexibility.”
Summing up the game pretty well – in the words of retired government official Chintan Prasad – the politics of eastern UP was left much with the influence of musclemen and later either casteists or Hindu fundamentalism.
Like elsewhere, everyone says – the BJP is banking heavily on Prime Minister’s charishma and on the other hand there is an attempt to united ‘the rest against him’. The voters in Gorakhpur or in Varanasi only lament that the political slugfest has touched new lows this year.
Who will bell the cat? The fact that the Congress leadership is often seen going ‘ultra Left’ has also not gone down well with the voters and especially some of these low profile intellectuals of Varanasi.
BJP underestimates political wisdom of people of Varanasi, says SP candidate
Varanasi (UP), May 15 Stating that the voters in Varanasi have always sprang major surprise and took leaders to sky high and again brought them down too, the Samajwadi Party candidate for the prestigious seat Shalini Yadav has exuded confidence that she could be the ‘blessed one’ in this year’s contest.
“We are not exaggerating things. But people of Varanasi have always stunned poll pundits. Kashi barey yodhya tayar karte haen aur giratey bhi haen (Varanasi produces big leaders and then brings down towering personalities as well),” Ms Yadav told UNI here.
She further said: “In 2014, the voters showed confidence in Arvind Kejriwal who was an outsider and dumped Congress. So essentially the point it though Narendra Modi won with a huge mandate, he could face an indifferent electorate this time”.
Ms Shalini Yadav also said that the BJP has sought to insult and underestimate the political wisdom of the Varanasi voters. “The BJP is already saying, Narendra Modi winning the seat is a mere formality. This over confidence and complacency will go against them”.
The voters in Varanasi have “never stuck” to one candidate for long and that is why a sitting MP of 2004 Rajesh Kumar Mishra (Congress, who polled over 2.06 lakh votes) was humbled and his votes reduced to mere about 66,000 in 2009.
“People here showed immense faith in candidates such as Mukhtar Ansari in 2009 and even a stalwart Murli Manohor Joshi could narrowly win by a margin of about 18,000 votes,” she said.
The Samajwadi Party candidate also said that things are “changing fast” on ground and there is now a fast ‘polarisation’ between anti-Modi and pro-Modi voters.
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| Shalini Yadav |
“Here comes the relevance of Mahagatbandhan (the alliance of SP-BSP-RLD) and that is why the voters are gradually drifting loyalties towards the alliance. I should not be exaggerating, but a big surprise on cards for Modi ji and his party,” Ms Yadav said.
Answering questions, Ms Yadav, a former Congress leader who only joined Samajwadi Party recently – said, “People of Varanasi do not have much faith in Congress. Young people may not remember even when was the last time Congress won this seat”.
Notably, Shalini Yadav is daughter in law of a Congress leader Shyamlal Yadav – who was elected as a lawmaker from the constituency in 1984.
Local people say Shalini Yadav is rooted in the city and thus possibly she can give a “fight” if the caste equations go in her favour.
Minority Muslims – who make a substantial population – in the temple city are on the face value still divided between making Congress and the Mahagatbandhan. But once things become clearer on who would be ‘bigger fighter’ against Prime Minister, the Muslims would back that candidate.
To a question on the growing perception that Yadavs in Varanasi have over the years generally voted for BJP, Ms Yadav said: “Such a notion is also erroneous. Moreover, going by the trends at the state level Gatbandhan would do well in the rest of Uttar Pradesh and thus, Yadavs in the city will also back Samajwadi candidate”.
Ms Yadav – as a Congress nominee for the Mayoral polls in 2017 – polled 1.14 lakh votes and finished second to the BJP nominee who polled about two lah votes. “I am a fighter,” she says adding “that is why the confidence that the people of Varanasi will support my candidature”.
Answering another question, she asserted: “My contest is against Prime Minister and the BJP because nothing of the big promises made by the BJP have been implemented in the city”.
“We have water problem. Pollution is another issue of great concern but last five years, we only saw some bridges coming up here and there and Varanasi has become a city of holes,” she said.
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