In the Raiganj Lok Sabha seat, the primary contest is between the BJP and Trinamool Congress. However, all eyes are on Ali Imran Ramz, the 46-year-old Left-backed Congress candidate.
The BJP had bagged the seat, which has around 50 per cent Muslim voters, in 2019. This time, Ramz, also known as Victor, could play spoiler for the TMC, which has never won Raiganj, by drawing minority votes in his favour.
Ramz took time out from his campaign to speak to The Telegraph.
What is your main intention, to defeat Trinamool or the BJP?
My primary contest is with the BJP. The party has done nothing for Raiganj though it won in 2019. As far as the Trinamool is concerned, I don’t think the party has any major importance beyond Bengal. I want to defeat both parties.
Mamata Banerjee has said you are in the race as you want to divide minority votes to help the BJP. How do you respond?
Yes, I have heard that TMC leaders, including chief minister Mamata Banerjee and their MP Abhishek Banerjee, have time and again labeled me a “votekatua (vote-cutter)”. Let me assert that if anybody is a “vote-cutter” here, it is the TMC as they have never won Raiganj, unlike the Congress. In fact, Trinamool is trying to help the BJP by attempting to draw minority votes away from my side.
There are reports that Mamata Banerjee gave you offers to join TMC. You instead joined Congress from Forward Bloc...
Yes, it’s true that I got multiple offers from Trinamool to join the party but I chose the Congress. This is because, in Trinamool, there is only one post. Nobody else has any say in the party. I have heard the senior leaders are scared of giving suggestions to the chief minister or Abhishek.
Also, I don’t consider Trinamool to be a national level political player like the Congress.
As you are in the poll fray, comparisons are drawn between you and Asaduddin Owaisi of the AIMIM. What do you have to say about it?
This is a false narrative that Trinamool has been trying to pitch. I am not representing a party that is new in Raiganj or doesn’t have a political base here. Such comparisons suggest that TMC is worried about me. Or else, Mamata Banerjee would not have held multiple public meetings here to launch a scathing political attack on me.
What are the major issues of your campaign?
In Raiganj, we had a BJP MP for the past five years who was also a member of Narendra Modi’s government (minister of state Debasree Chaudhuri). During her tenure, she couldn’t get a single central project approved for Raiganj and North Dinajpur district as a whole. Earlier, Priya Ranjan Das Munshi had introduced a train service to Calcutta from Radhikapur (in the district). He had also taken up the dream project to set up an AIIMS in Raiganj which Mamata Banerjee took away to Kalyani. In the polls, improvement of healthcare services and connectivity are the two issues I am talking about.
BJP or Trinamool, which is the bigger threat?
The BJP is trying to damage the social fabric of this country by dividing people along religious lines. Trinamool is no different as Mamata Banerjee and her party leaders, too, have been using a certain community as a vote bank for years now, without really doing any socio-economic development of the community. Besides, the TMC is steeped in corruption and you all know how they have robbed the people of Bengal.
For me, there is not much difference between these parties.
You are a Congress candidate. Have you approached Rahul Gandhi to campaign for you?
I had spoken with senior leaders because people always want to listen to Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi. But as he himself is in the contest from a far-flung seat like Wayanad in Kerala, it is not possible for any of them to come to Raiganj.
Mamata Banerjee is saying she will play an important role in national politics after the general elections are over. Do you think it’s possible?
It seems Mamata Banerjee is daydreaming. How can a party that has fielded candidates in 45-46 seats, which is not even 10 per cent of the total parliamentary seats, gain control of the INDIA bloc?
Raiganj votes today
