In a show of force, Mamata Banerjee held a rally in Nandigram today.
Highlight
- Nandigram is the constituency of Suvendu Adhikari
- Mamata Banerjee’s decision is a sign of her “nervousness”: BJP
- In the last elections, he had run from Bhabanipur in Kolkata.
Nandigram:
Bengal’s chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, announced today that she will contest the Bengal elections from Nandigram, the epicenter of a farmers’ movement that propelled her to power in the state 10 years ago. The announcement is significant as Nandigram is the constituency of his former right-hand man Suvendu Adhikari, who passed to the BJP last month.
“I will compete from Nandigram. Nandigram is my lucky place,” Mamata Banerjee said, addressing a public meeting in the city for the first time in five years.
In the last elections, he had run from Bhabanipur in Kolkata.
“Bhabanipur, please don’t feel bad. I will give you a good candidate,” said the 66-year-old leader.
Later in his speech, he indicated that he can compete in two constituencies and said: “Nandigram is my older sister, Bhabanipur is my younger sister … I will fight both if possible. In case I cannot compete from Bhabanipur, someone more would compete. “
Mamata Banerjee’s campaign to protect farmers’ lands from a proposed economic zone project in Nandiram fueled her campaign for the 2011 assembly elections, which she overwhelmingly won by defeating the ruling left.
In 2007, 14 were killed in clashes in Nandigram between protesting farmers and the police. In the subsequent election, Mamata Banerjee and her Trinamool Congress drew up the “Ma, Maati, Manush” campaign around that incident.
The return of the Chief Minister to Nandigram is a direct challenge for Suvendu Adhikari, who has led an exodus of leaders from Trinamool to the BJP in recent weeks. More than 40 leaders of the Trinamool Congress joined Adhikari when he defected to the BJP at a mega rally in December in the presence of Union Interior Minister Amit Shah.
Adhikari emerged as one of the main leaders of Trinamool due to his influence in Nandigram, which made the party almost unbeatable in rural Bengal. In 2007, Adhikari, then a close associate of Mamata Banerjee, snatched Nandigram to the left, catapulting Trinamool to power.
In the upcoming state elections, the battle of Nandigram will be decisive for Ms. Banerjee when she faces her trusted lieutenant, now one of the main promoters of the BJP in Bengal.
Ms Banerjee attacked the BJP, accusing it of luring her party’s men by promising to turn their black money into white. “Soap powder Bhajapa (BJP): TMC i kaala, Washer BJP ka I shaada (black on Trinamool, white on BJP washing machine) “, he commented.
The BJP saw Ms. Banerjee’s decision as a sign of nervousness and also targeted her for bringing a former police officer charged in the Nandigram shooting to the party.
“Mamata Banerjee’s decision to change the seat from Bhowanipore to Nandigram, for the first time in 10 years, indicates her political nervousness … Will IPS explain why Satyajit Bandopadhyay, accused by CBI of firing protesting farmers in Nandigram, was included in TMC?? “tweeted Amit Malviya, head of social media at the BJP and head of Bengal.
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