Hariharpara: Will Congress-CPI(M) fight help TMC sneak through?

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The contest

• Hariharpara is witnessing a triangular contest between Congress, CPI(M) & TMC
• TMC nominee Niyamot was a loyalist of Adhir Chowdhury. Congress candidate is a current loyalist
• The main question is if the split of votes between Congress & CPI(M) will help TMC

More in the story

• Is there resentment against TMC?
• What the people have to say

Hariharpara constituency in Murshidabad is going to see one of the closest contests in West Bengal Assembly election. This is one of the few seats where the TMC is strong in Murshidabad, apart from CPI(M) and Congress.

CPI(M) has won this seat 5 times since independence, Congress 6 times. In 2001, Niyamot Sheikh, the TMC candidate in 2016, had won as an Independent. Niyamot, a former loyalist of Congress strongman Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, joined TMC in 2009.

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The sitting MLA, Insar Ali Biswas, is from the CPI(M) and won this seat in 2006 too. Congress has fielded Mir Alamgir (Palash), a trusted aide of Adhir Chowdhury.

Palash was expelled from Congress during the 2011 Assembly election, when he had contested as an independent. Congress and TMC were in alliance and it is said that Palash contested at the behest of Adhir, who backed him even after the AICC diktat. Adhir had taken a anti-TMC stance in 2011.

"20% of voters in this constituency have allegiance to political parties. The others vote based on issues. Believe me, no one will spare an inch to the other as all are equally strong," says Roshanara Begum, a local.

She says that TMC may have an added advantage because schemes like Kanyasree and Imam have helped many in the area.

Niyamot and Palash both own brick kilns and Insar is a school teacher. Niyamot has more money and muscle power. He allegedly owns 4-5 brick kilns and some say that he had killed off his own relatives to rise up. Nowadays, his bricks are supplied even outside the state.

No one wants to discuss this dark side of Niyamot.

"Niyamot helps people irrespective of political loyalties. You tell him about any problem, especially financial, he is always there," says Raqib, a student of cinematography in Noida who has come to attend his sister's wedding and will vote.

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He pauses for a moment and adds - "This holds true for Palash as well. He is just a call away for us".

It seems that Insar Ali is not so 'helpful'. He is a person with limited financial resources.

"Many of us don't even remember when we last saw Insar. He just wins because of the strong organisation that the CPI(M) has in certain villages," adds a woman, who is involved with a Self Help Group.

In 2014 Lok Sabha, Congress,CPI(M) and TMC got 58,174, 52,300 and 47,385 votes respectively.

In 2011, CPI(M) got 58,293 votes and TMC got 51,935. Palash contesting as an Independent got 44,982 votes.

This time the roadshows and street corners of every party seems to have equal representation and no one is confident enough to say what might happen.

Issues like the latest Narada sting controversy, chit funds have not touched the constituency. Some even ridicule that 'Narada scam is an issue only on television'.

The region is known for crime and political violence. Locals do not expect any poll day violence. They clarify that most of these 'law and order' problems are family feuds (often related to women) and political parties join one of the families based on the number of people supporting each family.

The villagers and our driver (who also belongs to the same constituency) move onto discussing a father of a girl who was recently taken to the Nadia border and murdered. The reason - his daughter had married once, and then eloped with her lover and remarried.

It appears that kangaroo courts are common. On asking if any such 'meye ghotito' case has any religion or caste angle, the answer is negative but has different implications- "there is complete harmony and we sit and decide together in the panchayat about the challenges we face. This is our social system".

Moving on, we see about 300-400 people gathered near a helipad. These people have come to see actor-turned-politician Raj Babbar, who is supposed to come and campaign for Palash.

There is only one person, a farmer called Mujibur, who is waving the CPI(M) and Congress flags together. I ask him why is he waving two flags in a region where there is no alliance. He tells me - I "want relief from this criminal party (TMC)".

I ask Mujibur what he thinks of Niyamot but he seems to have no answer. Ainul, a farmer aged nearly 80, who overhears the question tells me - "Parivartan happen to humans too. He has changed, now he has more support".

A few miles ahead some Left supporters are getting ready to leave for a rally of Suryakanta Misra in nearby Domkal.

People admit that they are in a fix when people taunt them on the alliance.

"We really don't know what to say. We tell people that the sitting MLA is ours and by the logic Congress should have allowed us the seat," says an SFI worker.

Recently, hundreds of Left workers resigned in the area because of the alliance with Congress. Throughout their political career, they have been fighting the Congress. People of Hariharpara feel these Left votes might matter in the final outcome.

Optimists from both the Left and the Congress feel there would be major vote transfer from both sides at the last moment, depending on who is in a better shape to take on the TMC. But going by the pulse, this is unlikely.

Edited by Aditya Menon

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