In South Basirhat Borderland, Marching to the Left-Right-Left Tune

Which way will votes swing in south Basirhat, BJP’s sole assembly seat in Bengal? A ground report by Chandan Nandy.

Children in a North Itinda madrassa in South Basirhat constituency in North 24 Parganas, West Bengal.

(Photo: Chandan Nandy/ The Quint)

Sitting on his haunches on a makeshift platform made of strips of bamboo, Al-Hajj Mohammad Ruhul Amin was intently reading the editorial page of the 16 April edition of the widely-circulated Bengali daily, Ananda Bazar Patrika.

Ruhul Amin’s modest house in Akharpur village is by the banks of the Ichhamati river in South Basirhat in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district on the India-Bangladesh border. A bulk of Kolkata’s mouthwatering rasogollas come from Basirhat.

As the warm and moisture-laden morning breeze blew the pages of the newspaper, Amin put them back in order, before saying: “Ei shomoye bhot-er hawa tao khub elo-melo (at this point in time, the electoral breeze is a little uncertain).”

A madrassa in South Basirhat village in North 24 Parganas, which goes to the polls on 25 April. (Photo: Chandan Nandy/ The Quint)

BJP’s Sole Assembly Seat

Combing a wisp of his salt-and-pepper goatee with calloused fingers, Amin took his time to formulate an opinion on how Muslim-dominated South Basirhat – which about 18 months ago voted overwhelmingly in a byelection to elect a BJP candidate, Shamik Bhattacharya, after the seven-term CPI(M) MLA Narayan Mukherjee passed away – would vote this time around. South Basirhat is the sole seat in the 294-member assembly that the BJP holds.

Al-Hajj Mohammad Ruhul Amin of Akharpur village under South Basirhat constituency which is on the India-Bangladesh border. (Photo: Chandan Nandy/ The Quint)

“The byelection was extraordinary. Most Hindus and even Muslims voted for the BJP,” Amin said. “But in the 18 months that have elapsed, Shamik Bhattacharya has exposed himself to be useless. He has done little for the improvement of the constituency, especially over the issue of arsenic contamination of the groundwater,” Amin, who studied till Class XII before taking up the job of a government school teacher, said. He retired a couple of years ago.

Amin and his neighbour, Jabbar Sheikh, who is close to losing his eyesight, often discuss politics and the gradual demographic changes taking place around them. “Over the past five years there has been a steady settling down in Akharpur of Hindus from Bangladesh,” Amin said as he points towards the road leading towards Ghojadanga border checkpost not very far his house.

The Ichhamati river in Basirhat, North 24 Parganas, that flows close to the India-Bangladesh border. (Photo: Chandan Nandy/ The Quint)

And what about Bangladeshi Muslim immigrants? “They are mostly itinerant labourers who cross over to work in the many brick kilns in thickly populated South Basirhat before returning to their homes in Satkhira (the Bangladeshi district across Akharpur),” Jabbar Sheikh said.

In Akharpur and its nearby border villages, the CPI (M) and the Congress, which formed an electoral alliance across Bengal to try and stop the TMC juggernaut, the jot (alliance) constituents campaign separately. The alliance candidate for South Basirhat is from the Congress, although the seat was previously held by the CPI (M) for seven successive terms.

The main square at Panitor village under South Basirhat constituency in North 24 Parganas. (Photo: Chandan Nandy/ The Quint)

Tale of a Village Near the Border

Just off the road that leads to Ghojadanga is the leafy village of Panitor. Of the four kutcha roads that converge at the village square, one leads to a section of the fenced India-Bangladesh border. A warren of shops under the shade of hulking banyan trees and a few small provisions stores form the centre of activity in an otherwise sleepy village that boasts of being the shoshur-bari of Bengali writer, Bibhuti Bhushan Bandyopadhyay of Pather Panchali fame.

The dirt road leading from the village square at Panitor, under South Basirhat constituency, towards the India-Bangladesh border. (Photo: Chandan Nandy/ The Quint)

When Bishwanath Mukherjee, clad in a kurta and faded red lungi, ambled over to the square, the buzz over politics picked up. Mukherjee first exercised caution over “opening” his mouth, lest he said something that might not sit well with the other village folk. But within minutes, he was prepared to host us in his modest house with a large courtyard encircled with trees.

Bishwanath babu has a marked resemblance to the late Bengali film comedian Anup Ray. He dismisses the compliment, removes his kurta and settles down to rue over why a CPI(M)-dominated constituency voted for the BJP in the byelection in 2014. “It was the outcome of sheer anger against the CPI(M) as well as Mamata Banerjee’s TMC,” Mukherjee said.

Bishwanath Mukherjee at his home in Panitor village under South Basirhat constituency which goes to the polls on 25 April. (Photo: Chandan Nandy/ The Quint)

“You have seen Panitor’s dirt roads which don’t quite remain roads during the monsoons. But that is not our only suffering. South Basirhat has high levels of unemployment. We have college graduates who work in the nearby brick kilns,” Mukherjee said, lighting a beedi.

His son did not pursue higher studies after completing high school. Now 36, Mukherjee said with pride, his son is a self-made man who took to business in electrical goods and has worked his way up to be a “semi-government official”.

Al-Hajj Mohammad Ruhul Amin reading a Bengali newspaper at his neighbour Jabbar Sheikh’s house in Akharpur village in South Basirhat. (Photo: Chandan Nandy/ The Quint)

Like himself, Mukherjee’s son is a die-hard CPI(M) worker and has been appointed a party agent “who will be inside the polling booth” on 25 April, the day South Basirhat goes to the polls along with 48 other seats in North 24 Parganas and Howrah. “There have been reports of poll disturbances in Birbhum but we will not allow that in South Basirhat,” Mukherjee said, thumping his right knee in an emphatic gesture.