Not many people visit the ruins of the old “Jafarganj Palace” or “Jafarganj Deorhi” in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district. The palace is often referred to as “Namak Haram Deorhi” or the “Traitor’s Gate” by locals because it was were Mir Jafar lived.
If there is one historical character whose name was dropped again and again in the political discourse during the 2021 Assembly polls in West Bengal, it was Mir Jafar, the military general of Nawab Siraj-U-Daullah who sided with the British. At almost every political rally, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee called the leaders of her own party who had defected to the BJP “Mir Jafars” and ‘traitors’.
Murshidabad is the city of nawabs, from where they ruled the rest of Bengal till the battle of Plassey in 1757 and no reference to the politics of the region is complete without a mention of “Mir Jafar”. In the 2021 Assembly polls where the BJP used defections as a political tool, Mir Jafar’s reference was used across the State.
Against the political tide
The district, where polling took place in the seventh and eighth phases (April 26, 29), has always stood against the political tide of West Bengal. In the 2016 Assembly polls when the Trinamool swept the State, 14 of the 22 seats went to the Congress.
By 2019, the political landscape started shifting. Though State Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury managed to win the Beharampur Lok Sabha seat, the TMC made significant inroads. The TMC had a lead in 16 of the 22 seats in the district, Congress’ electoral dominance was reduced to five and the BJP had a lead in one seat.
Mr. Chowdhury, who blames the TMC for engineering defections in the Congress rank and file, said it does not suit the ruling party to attack the Opposition with the Mir Jafar jibe. “ They [TMC] have been paid back in their own coin,” Mr. Chowdhury reiterated.
Beyond Mir Jafar and the nawabs, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) is the most emotive political issue. Murshidabad shares boundary with Bangladesh and has a minority population of 66%.
Murshidabad was also one of the districts which witnessed violent protests over the CAA in 2020. Protests had erupted at various places including Jalangi, Beldanga Lalgola, Rejinagar and locals set trains on fire at Krishnapur station.
“We have made it clear that there is no question of any new citizenship. People of Murshidabad are very well aware of what the joke of CAA is all about, “Abu Taher, Murshidabad MP and the district TMC president, said.
Once a Congress bastion
Six seats of adjoining Malda district are also going to polls in the last phase. The history of Malda, where the remains of the medieval Gaur kingdom can still be seen, is older than Murshidabad. There are 12 Assembly seats in the district which was also a Congress bastion when A.B.A. Ghani Khan Choudhury and his family dominated the politics in the region, till a few decades ago.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had a lead in six Assembly seats, the Congress in four and the TMC in two seats. The issues that dominate Murshidabad are also the same in Malda with similar geography and a 51.27 % minority population.
The BJP’s campaign in both the districts harped on the issue of infiltration. Its leadership also took out its Parivartan Yatras ( Rath Yatras) in both the districts. In certain areas of Murshidabad, the district administration did not allow these yatras over apprehensions of a communal flare-up. Among the BJP star campaigners in the district was Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath who raised issues like “love jihad” which the electorate of the district had not heard earlier in public meetings and rallies.
Malda and Murshidabad account for 35 Assembly seats. Political observer and psephologist Biswanath Chakraborty said polling is taking place at a time when there is considerable anger against the BJP-led government at the Centre over alleged mishandling of the COVID situation. “In case of a close contest, Malda and Murshidabad can be make or break for either the TMC or the BJP,” he said.
The Election Commission has deployed 641 companies in the four districts going to the polls in the eighth and last phase on Thursday. Eleven constituencies in Murshidabad and Birbhum, six in Malda and seven in Kolkata will go to polls on Thursday.
