Elections 2019: CPI(M) Party Office in Nandigram Opened After More Than a Decade

The Left Front government of West Bengal was accused of conspiracy in 2006, and the accusations vanished when Trinamool Congress came to power in the state in 2011. There were two names at the centre of this entire controversy – Singur and Nandigram. Nandigram’s then MP, Lakshman Chandra Seth, who has since been expelled from Communist Party of India (Marxist) and after changing multiple political parties is now the Congress candidate for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, had issued a pamphlet which gave rise to massive protests in the area. Later, even after the Left Front government had given a written assurance that no land will be acquired in Nandigram, the local people had been coerced by the opposition to not believe in it. The Bhumi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee (Committee Against Land Evictions) was formed in a night, as an umbrella body for the the then opposition party TMC and several other organisations, and their resistance turned into a bloodbath in the area. The region witnessed the deaths of numerous people from both the ruling party and the opposition. However, from 2006 to 2019, Nandigram has come a long distance.

Local resident Gangadhar Shee, an old man, cannot remember the last time the CPI(M) office in Nandigram was open. He was there when the office, Sukumar Sengupta Bhavan, was locked after TMC’s goons attacked it almost 12 years ago. He said the office had been attacked several times before that too. The office slowly transformed into an abandoned building. No one visited it for almost a decade. He said that the fact that the office was being opened again made him ecstatic.

CPI(M) had been forced to close the office because of the repeated violent attacks. On Sunday, April 7, thousands of people gathered there as the red flag was once against hoisted at the building that had almost become a haunted house since then.

“This was our biggest office in the Nandigram area. After 2007, the TMC goons attacked it more than once, even put it on fire. Several of our comrades were present here during those attacks, they had to jump out of the windows to save their lives,” said CPI(M) leader and Central Committee member Rabin Deb. He added, “This time, we will conduct our election proceedings from this office.”

Nandigram is one of the seven Assembly segments that constitute Parliamentary constituency no. 30, Tamluk. The other six are Panskura Purba, Moyna, Nandakumar, Mahisadal, and Haldia. After TMC MP Suvendu Adhikary became a minister, Dibyendu Adhikary of the same party won the by-polls of 2016 from this constituency. He had received 59.76% of the votes. CPI(M) candidate Mandira Panda had received 21.62% of the votes. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Left Front candidate Ibrahim Ali had received 35.20% of the votes, and TMC had received 53.60%.

Among the seven Assembly segments that are part of Tamluk constituency, Left Front had won in three – Tamluk, Panskura Purba, and Haldia. TMC won in Nandigram, Moyna, Nandakumar, and Mahisadal.

Even though the Parliamentary constituency is called Tamluk, Nandigram is at the centre of it. It played a major role in TMC’s coming to power in the state in 2011. In the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, TMC candidate Suvendu Adhikari won from Tamluk constituency because of the controversy that had been caused in the village. During the 15th Lok Sabha elections, the vote share of TMC had gone up by 11.14%. Since then, the Left Front has never won in the Nandigram Assembly segment, or in Tamluk constituency.

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In 2009, the BJP candidate had received 1.79% votes in Tamluk. In 2014 Lok Sabha elections, this number had increased to 6.40%. In the Lok Sabha by-polls of 2016, this number increased further, and BJP received 15.06% of the votes. On one hand, several people have joined the ruling party to save themselves from the Attacks by TMC goons. On the other hand, some people have joined BJP.

The people of Tamluk constituency, which has since 2009 become a TMC stronghold, are asking a different question this time. Among the other general issues, there’s one burning question that has been bothering the locals – “Will we be able to vote?”

In the recent times, the ruling party has been accused of rigging in all the elections that have happened in the state. The people of Tamluk and Nandigram are fed up with the corruption of the goons of the ruling party.

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Sheikh Gulam Mustafa, a readymade garments merchant in Mohammadpur, said, “Corruption will end here, if we are allowed to vote just once.” Professor Chandrakanta Paik’s home is near Sonachura market in Nandigram. He said, “I have not been living in my home since a long time. ‘They’ have forced me to pay a lot of fines. I have paid as much as I could. My family lives here. I live in Haldia. I come here sometimes.”

Balai Pati is a resident of Kendemari. He said, “The fact that CPI(M) held a rally in this area after so long makes me really happy. This is a very dangerous place. We just want democracy. Everything will change if they let us vote this time. They scare the people with fake police cases and stop them from voting.”

Another local resident, Jahangir Sheikh pointing at the Super Speciality hospital building, said, “They have built this huge building to just show the people that they are doing something. But there are no doctors, no facilities. I have tried to meet the hospital super six times, but I have not been able to. No one says anything because everyone is scared of their goons.”

During the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the Left Front was not able to even campaign in the area. They had tried to organise one rally, and TMC goons attacked that rally in broad daylight.

But 2019 is going to be different from 2014. On April 7, a rally was started from Tengua market in Nandigram. The rally covered a total distance of almost nine kilometres and more and more people kept joining the rally in every corner.

The people of the area have only one demand, they want to be able to vote this time.

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