Lok Sabha Elections 2024: In battle for Jadavpur seat, 'sore-point' Bhangore holds key

Baruipur, West Bengal: Finishing his lunch in a hurry at a roadside eatery in Bhangore's Kathalia, Moinuddin Mondal was about to rush with his 'magic-gari' to ferry school students when police stopped him for a security check.

As the police rummaged through his micro-van, Mondal said, "This time, the security cover is more than in the previous elections. It is a good thing that they are trying to contain violence, considering what has been happening in this area over the last few years."

Tucked away in the outskirts of Kolkata in the South 24 Parganas district, Bhangore has often grabbed media headlines for the frequent political skirmishes that have rocked the area.

Notwithstanding the people's familiarity with violence here, the fresh bout coincided with the rise of a new political entity -- the Indian Secular Force (ISF) which, backed by the CPI(M), snatched the Muslim-majority Bhangore assembly seat from the TMC in 2021.

As the TMC sought to reclaim its lost ground after the shock defeat and ISF fought for its territory, skirmishes became regular. At least three people were killed during last year's panchayat polls, and several others in the run-up to it and thereafter.

The situation prompted Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to bring the area under Kolkata Police's jurisdiction earlier this year from the state police for better management, and doubled the number of police stations, from two to four, with plans to add four more.

With around 2.5 lakh votes in its kitty, Bhangore, seems to have emerged as the segment holding the key to the battle for Jadavpur Lok Sabha constituency in the ensuing elections.

The seat is headed for a four-cornered fight since ISF failed to stitch an alliance with the Left, with BJP and TMC forming the other two corners of the quadrant.

The TMC has been winning Jadavpur since 2009, but it has not given any of its MPs a second term, fielding a new face every time. In 2019, its candidate Mimi Chakraborty bagged the seat by a margin of 2.95 lakh votes, around 48 per cent of the total votes polled, over a third of which came from Bhangore.

Two years later, the TMC won six of the seven assembly segments under Jadavpur but lost Bhangore where it polled the most number of votes in 2019.

It is also a prestige battle for the TMC since a young Mamata Banerjee stepped into public life as a giant killer from Jadavpur after defeating CPI(M) veteran Somnath Chatterjee in 1984.

In 2019, the BJP secured 27 per cent vote share in Jadavpur, and the CPI(M) bagged 21 per cent. While BJP finished second in the mostly rural regions of Baruipur and Sonarpur, the CPI(M) was the runners-up in Bhangore, and urban Jadavpur and Tollygunge assembly seats.

"TMC has the strongest organisation in South 24 Parganas. So, there is no question about who will win. The election is about who will come second – the BJP or CPI(M). In Bhangore, we may benefit from the cross-voting there," TMC's Jadavpur-Diamond Harbour organisational district president Subhasish Chakraborty told PTI.

"From singer Kabir Suman and historian Sugata Bose to actor Mimi Chakraborty, TMC has fielded apolitical candidates in the last three elections in Jadavpur. But our candidate this time, Saayoni Ghosh, is not new to politics, despite being an actor. She is the president of TMC's youth wing," he said.

Among the main issues that the opposition candidates are raising are drinking water woes in the area, extension of metro tracks to Baruipur, lack of a state-run multi-specialty hospital and low frequency of trains on the Sealdah-Lakshmikantapur suburban route.

CPI(M) candidate Srijan Bhattacharyya said, "My campaign's top focus is on livelihood issues like price rise and unemployment. For Jadavpur, I have an 18-point programme, which includes setting up the Sonarpur IT Park, the foundation stone of which was laid by former CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee but has remained a non-starter for over a decade."

Exuding hope about winning the elections, he said, "CPI(M) is on the path of revival. Our chances this time are much greater than in 2019, when elections were polarised on religious lines. This year, it's a binary contest in Jadavpur between the CPI(M) and TMC. The BJP has some votes but their prospects are dismal."

Asked if he regrets that the alliance with ISF falling through, the first-timer in parliamentary poll fray said, "People in Bhangore tell me they looked forward to the alliance. We tried our best, but certain conditions ISF gave us were simply not acceptable. No argument in this world can justify CPI(M) leaving the Jadavpur seat for some other party," he said.

The BJP has fielded its national executive committee member Anirban Ganguly in the constituency.

"Jadavpur had absentee MPs for several years and I want to change that. The people could not reach their MP when in need and that is a major concern," he told PTI.

Ganguly said besides facilitating the metro expansion, setting up an AIIMS-like hospital and preserving the East Kolkata Wetlands, he would also ensure that the drinking water woes of the area are resolved through the implementation of the Centre's Jal Jeevan Mission.

"People know that voting for CPI(M) is a waste as it would not form a government either here or at the Centre. So, to defeat the TMC, they will vote for BJP." he argued.

ISF candidate Nur Alam Khan justified his 'certainty of victory' on grounds of his party’s strengthened grass-roots organization.

"Bhangore is the heart of Jadavpur. You cannot win Jadavpur without winning Bhangore. We pulled a miracle in 2021 by winning the seat without any sort of organisation. This time, we have a strong organisation on the ground. Besides, we are also hopeful about good support from the two seats each in Baruipur Sonarpur," he said.

Jadavpur will vote in the last phase on June 1.