The Lok Sabha poll for the Bishnupur seat in Bankura is poised to be much more than an electoral battle between rivals Saumitra Khan of the BJP and Sujata Mondal of the Trinamul Congress, who were once married to each other.
Bishnupur, which votes in the sixth phase on May 25, will see Sujata taking on sitting MP Saumitra, her former husband.
Arguably, political differences caused the marriage to come unstuck, especially after the 2021 Assembly polls, and Sujata and Saumitra divorced. Saumitra has remarried since.
However, Bishnupur’s claim to fame in this general election is more than the contest between former spouses. It is intricately woven with its resplendent terracotta temples, a testament to the legacy of the Malla rulers dating back nearly half a millennium, and its exquisite Baluchari sarees, woven with finesse through local craftsmanship.
The preservation, upkeep and promotion of its cultural heritage have emerged as pivotal themes in Bishnupur's electoral discourse, apparently eclipsing even national agendas.
Manohar Bandyopadhyay, a custodian of the Ayodhya Devottar Estate situated within the Ayodhya panchayat of Bishnupur constituency, lamented the Trinamul-led state government’s neglect towards the cluster of ancient temples. He bemoaned that their villages did not even have a single guest house despite the tourist rush. The village is situated a mere 11km away from Bishnupur.
“Repeated appeals have fallen on deaf ears,” decries Bandyopadhyay, the present heir to the erstwhile zamindars.
Rajkumar Goswami, a government-appointed guide, spoke of the dearth of facilities such as public toilets near the terracotta shrines dotting the cityscape. E-rickshaw driver Raju Mondal criticised the people’s representatives of various parties for not developing the city’s “narrow and bumpy roads”.
Talking about the Lok Sabha poll outcome in Bishnupur, several residents said local Trinamul MLA Tanmay Ghosh would be a significant player in influencing voters to back Sujata.
At the same time, they did not rule out the advantage Saumitra enjoyed as a two-time MP.
Tanmoy Singha Deb, a descendant of the Bishnupur royal family, praised Saumitra's "accessibility" and efforts to safeguard the temples under the aegis of the Archaeological Survey of India.
A few residents appreciated Saumitra for paying homage to Bir Hambir, the illustrious 49th ruler of the Malla dynasty, with a railway overbridge at Bishnupur station.
On Sujata's chances, a few residents argued that the Trinamul candidate stood to gain dividends from the state government’s initiative to preserve local heritage.
These residents were referring to the Acharjya Jogesh Chandra Purakriti Bhavan, a district museum under the state government’s department of information and cultural affairs, which houses many statues of the Pala and Sena eras, later Mughal art, ancient figurines, numerous coins of the Kushan and medieval eras, old silk cloth, pots, Dasavatar cards and many more.
“So, it would be wrong to say that the Trinamul-led government is completely apathetic towards local heritage,” says a government official.
If the preservation of heritage strikes a chord with many Bishnupur voters, a resident of the terracotta town, Prashanta Mahapatra, counts among Saumitra's successes his role in ensuring a rail link between Bankura and Masagram in East Burdwan.
“It has significantly slashed travel time between Calcutta and Bishnupur,” Mahapatra said.
The other issue being discussed in this historic town in the run-up to polls is the plight of weavers.
Sambhu Nath Rakshit, an artisan famous for Bishnupuri silk sarees, lamented the absence of a local centre for government procurement of handloom products.
Acknowledging the state government’s support towards artisans, he highlighted the need for a centralised procurement hub to streamline the distribution of handcrafted goods.
