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    View: The mood in this West Bengal village seems to be against Mamata Banerjee

    Synopsis

    Much of the support here at the rally for BJP seems to come from disgruntled Trinamool workers and supporters.

    BJP
    People hanging from the bulldozer’s claw all consider themselves to be ‘revolutionaries’.
    Five years to the day since the 2014 election results were annouced, Narendra Modi attended a rally at Sultanpur village near Mathurapur in South 24 Paragnas on Thursday. A few hours before his chopper landed at 4.45 pm, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had also held a rally a couple of kilometres away at Lakkhikantapur.

    Both places happen to be very close to Diamond Harbour on the coast of the Bay of Bengal where the sitting MP is Trinamool Congress’ Abhishek Banerjee, known in the state better as ‘bhaipo’, or nephew --- Didi’s nephew. While the media had its eyes on Modi’s final rally in Dumdum constituency in Kolkata city later in the evening, for the people of South 24 Parganas, it was one-plus-one ‘happy hours’ before dry days kicked in with Election Commission truncating campaigning to 10 pm on Thursday.

    It is novel to see BJP flags lining up the dodgy roads that lead up to Sultanpur. I even saw three large cardboard pillars with the image of Hanuman painted on them and words -- in Hindi -- proclaiming the monkey god’s ability to provide protection. We pass Gocharan Girls’ High School, where I see a familiar face on its wall –of Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar. Very noticably, a bouquet of BJP flags droop next to the 19th century social reformer recently in the news.

    Bulldozer in a China Shop
    On the expanse adjoining the rally ground a bulldozer literally covered with BJP workers rolls slowly towards the spot where the Modi chopper is to settle from the skies. One of them waving the party flag furiously and joining in the general chant of ‘Jai Sri Ram!’ – there are no ‘Modi! Modi!’ chants till Modi proceeds to speak much later – is, curiously, wearing a Che Guevara t-shirt. But I figure that the chaps hanging from the bulldozer’s claw all consider themselves to be ‘revolutionaries’.

    They are all Bengali. “We will bulldoze away all the terror (santrash),” Gautam Paik from Kulti, Paschim (Western) Bardhaman district, tells me, adding, “[BJP] has brought us Hindu bhabna (Hindutva).”

    A Silent Gathbandhan?
    Much of the support here at the rally for BJP seems to come from disgruntled Trinamool workers and supporters. “The presence of Central Security Forces has given us the courage this time to speak our mind against TMC,” says Debashish Haldar, from Namkhana village in Kakdwip, South 24 Parganas. It’s not so much the love of Modi, but the desire to see ‘Didi go’ that seems to goad on many of those gathered. The selective distribution of TMC’s version of ‘achhe din’ (that includes houses and property, I am told, have only gone to a select few. Those looking at BJP to remove Didi here, see TMC as little else than a feudal party.

    As Basudeb Gorai from Bakhhali tells me, “Many of us are still fond of the CPI(M). But they don’t have the strength now, so BJP it is for us this time.” Much talk is about the unofficial ‘understanding’ between Left and BJP at the booth to work against the common enemy. That sounds like a silent gathbandhan to me.


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