Shadow of broken Vidyasagar bust looms over polls in Kolkata, suburbs

KOLKATA: When 1.5 crore voters of nine Bengal Lok Sabha constituencies queue up in front of EVMs on Sunday, they might as well be voting in a completely different from the one in which the other 5.5 crore of Bengal’s voters participated. One evening of mid-May mayhem — the May 14 College Street violence in the wake of the Amit Shah roadshow and the desecration of Vidyasagar’s statue — has, at least temporarily, changed Bengal’s political discourse and given voters of these nine seats an entirely different set of issues on which to base their choice of party and candidate.
The biggest impact of the College Street mayhem may be felt in areas closest to the stretch where it occurred — particularly Kolkata North, epicentre of this quake — but it will also resonate among voters of all nine seats that queue up on Sunday, especially the urban and suburban population that makes up a huge chunk of this electorate.

The Bengali Renaissance of 19th century originated from this less-than-a-square-kilometre block; College Street remains the address of the institutions that came out of this movement: Presidency College, Sanskrit College, Medical College and Hospital and Calcutta University. Vidyasagar and the others who shaped this movement have remained icons for subsequent generations of Bengalis. The desecration of a statue of one of these revered sons of the soil has suddenly given the principal combatants in this election — being fought 128 years after his death — new opportunities (and threats) on which to base their appeal to voters.
For Trinamool, it has come as an opportunity to use the always-felt-but-seldom-expressed fear of the city’s Bengali population of being swamped by migrants. But it may be a double-edged sword: the party has also assiduously wooed the non-Bengali population by participating in their festivals (like Chhath Puja) and making it easier for them to observe these festivals.
So Trinamool has spoken of Bengal’s heritage and how it is under threat from a “party that does not understand Bengal”. But the attacks have been aimed at a political party rather than any community. CM Mamata-Banerjee’s counter-roadshow —also in Kolkata North — just a day after the desecration may end up as a political masterstroke if it yields the desired result.
After May 14, poll equations changed
The BJP, on the other hand, would be ruing a missed opportunity. Shah’s roadshow was impressive and the enthusiasm that went into making it a success was palpable, a reflection of the party’s growing confidence in its nationalism-blendedwith-religion appeal to voters of a state that — till a decade ago — voted for the avowedly atheist Left bloc.
Now, after May 14, its leaders have spent most of their time trying to defend themselves from accusations of being behind the desecration and deflecting the blame on to the Trinamool. The party’s carefully executed plan — to turn this Lok Sabha election into a verdict on Mamata Banerjee’s governance of Bengal (and NOT a referendum on Narendra Modi’s five-year term in Delhi) — now lies in tatters.
In that sense, the Election Commission’s decision to curtail campaigning by a day — because of the violence — may have come as a relief for the BJP; a day less of being in the pulpit may help.
The Left has been pushed out to the edges of the photo frame even more after this Tuesday’s events. It retains its pockets of influence, especially in constituencies like Jadavpur where it is being seen as a serious contender, but the sudden change of issues and discourse would not have helped the CPM-led front. The party’s best hope — in at least six of the nine seats that vote on Sunday (Kolkata North and South, Dum Dum, Barasat, Diamond Harbour and Basirhat) — would be to end up as a strong number two so that it survives to fight another day. Anything less than that will mean yet another step in its march to near-decimation in south Bengal.
Only one party has been largely unaffected by this week’s dramatic developments. The Congress, still a force in some north and middle Bengal constituencies, was a bit player in these nine seats before May 14; the Shah roadshow and the statue desecration would not have changed its status.
The very idea a 19th-century icon’s statue desecration casting its shadow on an election in the 21st century would have been unthinkable five days ago. Are we staring at something equally unpredictable unfolding just four days later?