Chhatradhar Mahato and Sushanta Ghosh — the two strongmen of Trinamul and the CPM, respectively, in Jungle Mahal — were seen in their old form, after almost a decade, on poll Saturday.
The Telegraph followed the two leaders to see what they were doing and assess their impact on voters in Bengal elections 2021.
Sushanta Ghosh after voting in Benachapra, West Midnapore Snehamoy Chakraborty
Chhatradhar Mahato
The 57-year-old took an early bath on Saturday and got dressed in a white kurta-pyjama — not his usual attire as he is usually seen in shirt and trousers — before stepping out to vote on Day One of the eight-phase polls in Bengal.
Standing at the courtyard of his two-storey mud house in Amlia, a remote village in Lalgarh, Jhargram district, he told this correspondent: “I am feeling like a first-time voter. Do you know I am going to cast my vote after 12 years?”
As the car to take him to the poll booth arrived, he was heard prodding his wife Niyati to get ready to take part in the festival of democracy. Soon, Niyati was ready in a new sari.
“It is really amazing,” said Chhatradhar while stepping out of his home in Lalgarh, the seat of the Maoist movement in the area between 2008 and 2011.
His humble presence and the salt-and-pepper look belies the fact that Chhatradhar had played a major role in the movement organised with Maoist support and under the banner of the People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA) in Jungle Mahal. He was arrested in 2009 under the UAPA and sentenced to life imprisonment in a murder case.
A lot has changed since then. Chhatradhar has resurfaced in the area as Mamata’s man in Jungle Mahal in her fight against the BJP.
On reaching Birkanr primary school, he queued up with other voters for about an hour to cast his vote. “This was the first priority for me. I voted for Trinamul,” said Chhatradhar after getting inked.
Voting done, it was time for Chhatradhar, a state committee member of Trinamul, to focus on his assignment of ensuring victory of 12 Trinamul nominees from four Jungle Mahal districts — Purulia, Bankura, West Midnapore and Jhargram.
His phone kept ringing as party colleagues gave him feedback on polling trends. Unlike mainstream politicians, he was talking less and listening more.
“There is pressure on us, but we are confident of winning the game here in Jungle Mahal,” he said.
“People in the area still love me and more importantly they know Mamata Banerjee has delivered...I think I will deliver what Didi expects from me,” he said.
What does she expect?
The Trinamul strongman in Jungle Mahal said that his assignment was to connect his party with the people on the ground. “ I tried to be a bridge between the people and Trinamul. I think it will work...that’s what you may find on May 2,” he said.
His connect will people is evident. As he stopped near a booth, Putul Mal, 30, from Jamshol village came in front of him with a request.
“Dadu, will you fulfil my wish? It is very small. I want to meet Mamata Banerjee,” Putul, with her three-year-old son in her lap, smiled.
“Why not. I will make it happen very soon,” Chhatradhar said.
By the end of the day, he visited at least hundred booths in his district and attended scores of calls. In between, he visited Lalgarh private hospital where his ailing mother was admitted on Friday night.
The only time he looked perturbed was when he reached the hospital. “Is it a hospital? Where are the doctors and nurses? It is so dirty. Can any patient stay here?” he grumbled before ensuring the presence of a doctor and a nurse near his mother.
Sushanta Ghosh
A large number of villagers of Benachapra village gathered in front of Birsinghpur primary school around noon. Some were voters, but most had gathered for a glimpse of Sushanta Ghosh, CPM strongman who was not seen the area for around a decade, but had returned to contest as a CPM nominee from Salbani.
Benachapra, a village in Garbeta which now falls under Salbani Assembly, is not just the ancestral home of seven-time CPM MLA Ghosh, now 63. The dusty village had been in the news in the fag end of the Left rule after seven skeletons of allegedly of missing Trinamul men were recovered near Ghosh’s house. Ghosh was arrested in August 2011 for his alleged involvement in murdering the seven Trinamul men. He could enter the area only on December 6 last year.
The CPM veteran, a former minister in Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s cabinet, met people. “I voted in 2016 Assembly polls and 2019 Lok Sabha polls with special permission from the Election Commission. But after a decade I am a candidate here and can freely roam around in my constituency,” said at Benachapra village.
Moving around the constituency on the poll day was not easy for Ghosh as he faced attacks at Chhototara Sishu Siksha Kendra allegedly by alleged BJP and Trinamul supporters. Not only was he manhandled and brickbats were hurled at his car, he said that he was threatened by the goons, who didn’t even spare the media persons.
“My rivals, both BJP and Trinamul, are worried about my return here... They attacked me as they don’t want to see me here as a leader of common people,” he said.
His mood lifted when supporters told him they were voting for him.
“He always interacts with us with a smiling face. He was beaten up a little while ago, but see, he is so composed. That’s our leader,” said Pintu Pan, a CPM supporter in Benachapra.
Asked about Ghosh’s alleged involvement in the skeleton case, Pan said: “He was framed, that has been established... We aren’t bothered about such allegations.”
Ghosh’s return has helped the CPM tiptoe back in the region. He oversaw reopening of 100-odd CPM offices in Garbeta and Salbani since December 6, 2020. Though the party had suspended him, his popularity prompted Alimuddin Street to field him as a candidate from Salbani.
The presence of Ghosh was not only good news for the CPM, it also gave Trinamul a reason to be happy. Along with Ghosh, at least 1,000 CPM workers, who had fled the region, returned, said a Trinamul source. If the CPM gains organisationally, the job of defeating the BJP becomes easier, goes the logic.
