West Bengal panchayat polls today: From Trinamool ‘winners’ to BJP contenders, Lalgarh holds its breath

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Hansa Roy, 52, Lakkhan Sen, 26, and Dilip Sen, 30, still bear wounds from that day — and fear that the circumstances surrounding Monday’s panchayat polls could bring those days of violence back. “I was shot in the arm and spent months in hospital. I lost my nephew. It is important that we do not have such days any more,” says Roy.

Nearby Lalgarh is a former hotbed for Maoist activities and saw an attack on then chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya in November 2008. While the TMC now controls the area, it is up against a number of grassroot party leaders contesting as Independents.

BJP candidate Bharati Mahato at her home at Barajamda on Sunday.(Express Photo: Subham Dutta)

Of the 115 gram panchayat seats in Lalgarh, the TMC has sitting candidates in 100. Bonobihari Roy, 74, the president of the Trinamool’s Lalgarh block, says they had to ask many of their sitting panchayat leaders to make away as they had “looted money and done nothing for the people”. “But now they are contesting as Independents. A section of our senior leaders are also campaigning for them. There is so much lobbying. But I am confident we will win more seats than the Opposition combined,” says Roy.

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Around 40 km away, in Barajamda village in Belatikri, Bharati Mahato, the BJP panchayat candidate, is busy grinding raw turmeric on a stone at the back of her house. The village which has about 800 voters was originally a Left supporter. This time, they are all backing the BJP.

“My husband told me to contest and so did the villagers, so I am contesting. I know little about politics,” says Bharati, whose husband is a driver.

“Since the Maoist problem cropped up and the TMC came to power, the Left has diminished. For survival, we are with the BJP,” says Tribhanga Maiti, a farmer. “Tomorrow at least in this village we are ready to give a befitting reply if the Trinamool goons try and capture booths,” says Jogesh Maity, 32.

In Harda, Binpur, however, the BJP candidate who is also the district secretary has not come home in over two months. A former TMC member along with his wife in the panchayat, he left to join the BJP two years back.

TMC’s Lalgarh block president Bonobihari Roy at his home in Lalgarh. (Express Photo: Subham Dutta)

“A month ago, they tried to kill me. If people are allowed to vote, we will win all the seats in this area. They (ruling party) are making police slap false cases against our leaders, including me,” says Rajesh Mondol, sitting on the roof of a small party office near Harda market. He is reluctant to meet either on the street or inside the single-room party office for “security reasons”.

Near Lalgarh, in Belpahari’s 128 gram panchayat seats, a tribal outfit called Adim Adivasi Samanvaya Manch has sprung up and put up Independent candidates. Maoist posters are urging support for these Independents and for boycotting mainstream political parties. This is the only area where the TMC could not campaign.

Over at Netai, the uncontested TMC ‘winner’ has her own set of problems. “I do not know what will happen,” says Lakshmi Singh, 21, cradling her seven-month-old baby. “I have heard the Supreme Court said something and I am not getting my winner’s certificate. It was not my fault that no one contested against me,” she says.