After the sustained battle between Congress State president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and top leadership of the Trinamool Congress, the party stunned everyone by placing all bets on cricketer Yusuf Pathan to defeat Mr. Chowdhury in the Baharampur Lok Sabha constituency, which he has won five straight times since 1999.
The Trinamool has never won the seat, which in the last seven decades has been dominated by either the Congress or the Revolutionary Socialist Party. The only solace that the Trinamool can hold onto is that Mr. Chowdhury’s vote share has been on a downward trend, dipping over 11 per cent since the 2009 general elections. But at the same time, the Trinamool has become a serious contender only in the last two general elections – 2014 and 2019 – when their candidates became the runner-ups.
With Mr. Pathan in the race, the Trinamool believes it has a double advantage. One, the cricketer’s star quality will bring in the crowds and second, as an “outsider”, he is better placed to rally the multiple groups of “Chowdhury baiters”.
“You always need a disruptor to dislodge an entrenched candidate. And as far we see it, Mr. Pathan is just that,” a senior Trinamool leader said.
Mr. Pathan, a Baroda-based cricketer, was part of the 2011 World Cup-winning team. “Till now, all Mr. Chowdhury’s challengers have been from the Baharampur backyard. And there are several groups of baiters who want to contest against Mr. Chowdhury. As an outsider, it will be easier for Mr. Pathan to rally all these different groups together rather than if we were to pick leaders of one group,” the Trinamool leader further explained. The constituency has 52% Muslim voters and the party believes Mr. Pathan will help in dividing them.
But Mr. Pathan’s only connection to West Bengal is that he has played for the Kolkata Knight Riders for seven years.
Both the Congress and the Left leaders claim that by fielding him, the Trinamool has already conceded defeat. “Baharampur is largely a rural population how will Mr. Pathan speak to the voters when he does not speak Bangla. Second, it runs against the Trinamool’s own narrative of framing the BJP as outsiders,” a senior Left leader said.
A senior Congress leader from the State was also stumped by the choice. “We thought that since the Trinamool is going hammer and tongs against Mr. Chowdhury, they would put up a strong candidate against him. This is as good as giving him a walkover,” the Congress leader said.
The Trinamool, meanwhile, stoutly defended Mr. Pathan’s candidature. In a sound byte released by the party, Rajya Sabha MP Sukendu Shekhar Ray said: “Krishna Menon and B.R Ambedkar have stood for elections here. Bengal never considered them outsiders. Outsiders are those who insult Bengal, who talk about capturing Bengal and those who deprive Bengal of its rightful dues.” Mr. Ray insisted that these tags won’t matter, since the 2024 general elections in the State are about “Modi’s guarantees vs Didi’s guarantees”.
