SILIGURI:
A Trinamool poll graffiti catches the eye on way to Siliguri town from
Bagdogra. It reads: 'Bangla bhag rukhte Trinamool prarthi Baichung
Bhutia ke vote din (Vote for Trinamool candidate to resist division of
Bengal). Rewind to mid-80s and one would recall the Left slogan — Sakkhi
thakbe Kanchenjungha/ Bangla bhager biruddhe lorchhe kara
(Kanchenjangha is witness to who all are fighting against division of
Bengal). The slogan remains the same but seems to have lost its edge
with time."It doesn't carry the emotional appeal that could consolidate votes in the plains decades ago. This is true for the hills as well. Parties can't get away by flaunting a pro-Gorkhaland stance only," says trader Pratul Sarkar at Bidhan Market.
Battlelines have got skewed in this high-profile constituency. Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) president Bimal Gurung made an appeal to independent candidate and former vice-chancellor of Sikkim University Mahendra P Lama to come in support of a common cause. Similarly, CPM wrote to its once arch-rival GNLF chief Subash Ghising seeking his support. The reason, CPM endorses the Sixth Schedule status for the Hill people that Ghising has been demanding. The GNLF supremo has kept his cards close to his chest and will announce his poll strategy on April 2. Chances are that he might go with the ruling party because Mamata Banerjee gave him a foothold in the Hills five years after his exile in Jalpaiguri. The GNLF chief was denied entry to Darjeeling following his wife's demise in August 2008.
A sizeable section looks disgusted with political stances. They are instead looking beyond the set formula. "You won't find their overbearing existence in Siliguri. But many people didn't get what the ruling party had promised to deliver, leave aside CPM. The BJP has a chance," said an auto operator on the Hill Cart Road. The mood was evident from the BJP activist gathering on Sunday in a local school on the way to Sukna. It has made local politicians sit up and take note. Upbeat with the showdown, BJP's chief campaigner Narendra Modi is coming to Siliguri on April 10.
Local Trinamool leaders have started sounding out in meetings that they will keep an eye on polling booths in wards having non-Bengali concentration. Mamata Banerjee, however, is likely to improve her party's tally in the Bengali middle-class dominated wards in Siliguri. They are happy with the way the chief minister hard-tackled GJM and restored peace in the Hills. If the CM's tough stance has hurt Gorkha settlers in Salugara, Panitanki or even Madarihat and Phansidewa, Trinamool minister Gautam Deb is trying to allure them with development projects. Alliance candidates won two assembly seats - Matigara-Naxalbari and Phansidewa — in 2011 because the GJM threw its weight behind them.
Voters in the minority-dominated Chopra assembly segment, on the other hand, feel left out in a desperate bid to woo the Hills. A slogan aptly captures the mood. It reads: 'Chopra debe vote, pahar pabe note' (Politicians seek vote at Chopra to distribute funds in hills). This is a segment where independent candidate Hamidul Rahman (defiant Congress) got 44.62% votes in 2011 Assembly polls fighting it alone against Trinamool and CPM.
The divide is also apparent in the Hills. With Gorkhaland ideologue and independent candidate Mahendra P Lama in the fray, BJP candidate SS Ahluwalia, with GJM support, won't be touching the 51.50% mark Jaswant Singh breached in 2009 Lok Sabha polls. Bimal Gurung's vote share in the Hills is on the slide. A cursory glance at the GJM vote share in the three hill assembly segments — Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong — in 2009 Lok Sabha polls and that in the 2011 Assembly polls show the slide prominently. Lama is Gurung's cause of concern this time. The Buddhist Lamas and the Scheduled Caste Community in the Hills may go with the Gorkhaland ideologue. Hill outfits such as CPRM and prominent members of the Hills civil society have already sided with the independent candidate. The Indigenous Lepcha Tribal Association has kept parties guessing still. It will announce its support a week before the first phase of polls on April 17. Getting the whiff, both BJP and Trinamool are holding talks with communities to guarantee their support. Limbus may go for a poll boycott.
GNLF supremo Ghising's return has added to Gurung's woes. Ghising has a considerable support base despite desertion by the likes of former MLA Shanta Chhetri. Ghising can add to Baichung's Trinamool candidate Baichung Bhutia's tally.
Marginalised in the Hills, CPM candidate and former Rajya Sabha member Saman Pathak is eying the party's withering support base in the tea gardens. Son of party veteran Ananda Pathak, Saman struggles for survival. Lately, CPM is trying to come out of the "anti-Gorkha" tag in a bid to win back the 40,000-odd Gorkha voters in the plains. The party strives to protect its 2011 vote share in the plains. It seems unlikely because the candidate then was former minister Asok Bhattacharya. The Left can at best seal the fate of either of the two — Ghising-backed Trinamool or the GJM-backed BJP in Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat. -