The economic woes of the tea gardens and their workers, and the identity politics of the Rajbangshi community are likely to be key issues determining the electoral choices of voters in three constituencies along the northern fringes of West Bengal which will go to the polls in the first phase on April 19.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had won all three seats — Cooch Behar, Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri — in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, but the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has gained considerable ground since then and is now posing a stiff challenge in the region. Campaigning for the first phase ends on Wednesday, April 17.
Rajbangshi identity
In Cooch Behar, the BJP has fielded Nisith Pramanik, whose rise from a deputy pradhan in the town of Dinhata to Union Minister of State for Home Affairs in the national capital has marked one of the steepest ascents in West Bengal politics. While the BJP MP is banking on his charisma, the Trinamool Congress is highlighting the criminal cases against him and his long absence from his constituency.
Given that 40% of Cooch Behar’s voters are from the Rajbangshi community, their identity issues are also crucial to the constituency. Previously, tensions in the area boiled over their demands for a separate State of Greater Cooch Behar. In August 2023, the BJP nominated Nagendra Roy alias Ananta Maharaj to the Rajya Sabha to win the support of the community. Now, for the Lok Sabha election, the TMC is keeping its hopes alive as another Rajbangshi leader Bangshi Badan Barman has put his weight behind their candidate, Jagadish Chandra Basunia.
The district is also home to thousands of people who lived in a series of erstwhile enclaves along the India-Bangladesh border, and who became Indian citizens only after the historic exchange of enclaves between the two countries in 2015. They hope their pending issues will be resolved after the Lok Sabha election.
Distress in the estates
In Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri, political discourse is dominated by the distress prevailing in the tea estates that produce 60% of the State’s tea. Of the 150 large tea gardens in the region, 18 have shut down. The implementation of minimum wages for tea garden workers, and issues relating to ownership of the land in the tea estates are critical electoral issues.
In both Alipurduar and Coochbedhar, the contest is between an MP and an MLA representing the region. Despite the fact that John Barla won the Alipurduar Lok Sabha seat in 2019 by a margin of over 2.5 lakh votes, the BJP has dropped its sitting MP and instead fielded the Madarihat MLA Manoj Tigga, who is also its chief whip in the West Bengal Assembly. The Trinamool Congress has fielded its Rajya Sabha MP Prakash Chandra Barik for the seat, which is reserved for the Scheduled Tribe (ST) community, setting up a battle between two popular leaders.
In the adjoining Jalpaiguri district, it is the BJP’s sitting MP Jayanta Roy who is pitted against the TMC’s Dhupguri MLA Nirmal Chandra Roy. A political storm has erupted after a tornado in Jalpaiguri claimed five lives on April 2, with the ruling TMC claiming that it cannot rebuild the affected houses because of the prevailing Model Code of Conduct.
Counter accusations
At his poll rallies in Cooch Behar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has targeted the Trinamool Congress on various fronts, from corruption allegations to the violence at Sandeshkhali in south Bengal, and the attacks against central agency officials allegedly by TMC supporters. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who has campaigned extensively in the region, has accused the BJP-led Union government and the local BJP MPs of not doing anything for the region, including the tea gardens.
The Left parties and the Congress have fielded candidates in these seats, as they do not have any seat-sharing agreement with the TMC in West Bengal despite them all being members of the Opposition INDIA bloc. In Cooch Behar, the Congress has fielded Piya Roy Chowdhury, while Nitish Chandra Roy is contesting as a candidate of the All India Forward Bloc, a constituent of the Left Front. Milli Oraon of the Revolutionary Socialist Party, another constituent of the Left Front, is contesting from Alipurduar, while the Communist Party of India (Marxist)‘s Debraj Barman is the joint candidate of the Left and the Congress in Jalpaiguri.
