Ground Report: The Sorry State Of Siliguri That Is A Microcosm Of The Mess That Is Bengal

Siliguri is the second-most important urban agglomeration in Bengal and the nerve-center of the strategically important North Bengal region, besides being a gateway to Nepal, Bhutan and Northeast India.

One would have expected such a city to have received adequate attention from successive governments in the state.

More so since a very powerful minister in the earlier Left Front government has represented this Assembly seat for four consecutive terms from 1991 to 2006.

Ashok Bhattacharya, who was the urban development minister in the Jyoti Basu and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee governments, ruled over Siliguri like a regional satrap, but did little for its development.

Siliguri is also the hometown of the powerful Trinamool politician Goutam Deb who was the minister-in-charge of the North Bengal Development Department that was created by Mamata Banerjee when she came to power in 2011.z

He, too, did little for resolving the various problems--civic, water supply, infrastructure and economic--that the city faces.

He was shunted out of the ministry and was the tourism minister in the outgoing government, but his successor--Rabindranath Ghosh who hails from Cooch Behar in this region (North Bengal)--has been equally ineffective.

Despite the presence of such powerful politicians in two ruling dispensations, Siliguri presents a sorry picture of abject civic neglect.

The city, which is home to many communities and is the commercial hub of the region, has grown in a completely unplanned manner. Urban planning has been an alien concept to successive administrators of this city.

Narrow and congested potholed roads choc-a-block with all modes of transport, overflowing drains choked with plastic waste, uncollected garbage on the streets, sprawling slums and festering sewers, all enveloped in a perennial veil of dust and smoke marks out Siliguri as one of the worst cities in the country.

That people continue to survive in this highly polluted city with a non-functional sewage, drainage and water supply system amidst all the chaos is a miracle in itself.

Siliguri is also the fastest growing city in eastern India and given the continuing apathy of its planners and administrators, this presents a nightmarish scenario.

Ashok Bhattacharya, who lost the Siliguri seat to the Trinamool in 2011 but wrested it back in 2016, also became the Mayor of this city in 2015.

But he has little to show for his multiple tenures as the state urban development minister and, over the last six year, as the Mayor.

It was under his watch that Siliguri grew exponentially to become an ill-managed urban chaos. And over the last decade, under Goutam Deb’s and Rabindranath Ghosh’s watch, it has become an urban horror.

Siliguri is, in fact, a microcosm or an exemplifier of the mess that Bengal is in.

The poverty, poor governance, leaky delivery system for social welfare schemes, widespread unemployment, poor law and order, dysfunctional administration and police, hooliganism, rent-seeking politicians who patronise crime syndicates and the endemic corruption that afflicts Bengal plagues Siliguri too.

The Marxists have been winning the Siliguri Assembly seat since 1977, the year that marks the beginning of Bengal’s descent into darkness.

But despite winning this seat for the next seven terms and being in power in the state for the next 34 years, the Marxists did precious little to develop this city.

“Like the other cities and towns of Bengal, Siliguri was left to develop on its own and cope as best as it could with the civic mess that resulted. The Left leadership suffered from an appalling lack of vision to develop the state, and Siliguri, and were singularly preoccupied with strengthening their hold on political power,” remarked Rudra Narayan Deb, a former professor of political science at North Bengal University.

Trading, the mainstay of the city’s economy, has flourished despite political and administrative apathy. And though the earliest traders were mostly Marwaris, people from neighboring Bihar also set up trading and business ventures here.

Siliguri, which was part of the kingdoms of Nepal and Sikkim alternately till it became part of British India through the Treaty of Sugauli in 1815, is quite a cosmopolitan city.

Of its estimated 10.57 lakh residents, a little over 64 per cent are Bengalis, nearly five percent are Gorkhas, more than 27 per cent are Marwaris, Biharis and Hindi-speaking communities, a little over one percent are Urdu-speaking while the remaining are Punjabis, Sindhis, Gujaratis, Tibetans, Bhutias,Santhalis, Tamils and other communities.

An overwhelming majority (nearly 92 per cent) of the population are Hindus, Muslims form 5.5 per cent, Christians 0.94 per cent, Buddhists 0.65 per cent, Sikhs 0.21 per cent and Jains 0.23 per cent.

Siliguri’s population grew by leaps and bounds due to waves of migration of predominantly Bengali Hindus fleeing horrific persecution in East Pakistan and then Bangladesh.

“Siliguri is a melting pot of cultures. It is cosmopolitan in that sense, but still has a small-town mentality. This is not a very progressive and forward-looking city,” said Nabyendu Shastri, a sociologist who coaches civil service aspirants.

The electoral battle:

Siliguri is witnessing a unique electoral battle this time. This is the only constituency in the state where the primary contenders are the CPI(M) and the BJP.

While Ashok Bhattacharya is the Sanjukta Morcha (Congress-Left-ISF alliance) candidate from Siliguri, it is his main rival from the BJP--Shankar Ghosh--who is getting a lot of attention.

Ghosh was a prominent face of the CPI(M) in Siliguri and was an understudy of Ashok Bhattacharya. The latter was seen as his mentor and it was often said in political circles here that the veteran Marxist was grooming Ghosh for a larger role in the party.

But Ghosh revolted against the party leadership alleging lack of inner-party democracy. He resigned from the CPI(M) and was subsequently expelled from the party. Ghosh joined the BJP in mid-March this year.

Ghosh has been drawing huge crowds in his rallies and roadshows and has been overshadowing his one-time mentor Ashok Bhattacharya.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah and a host of senior BJP leaders have campaigned for Ghosh in Siliguri, thus giving his electioneering a big boost.

The Trinamool candidate, former Jadavpur University professor Om Prakash Mishra, is considered to be a weak candidate and has been battling the ‘outsider’ tag.

Mishra grew up in Malbazar in the neighbouring Jalpaiguri district and studied at North Bengal University. But though he has his roots in North Bengal, Mishra has never had any political stake here.

Mishra was with the Congress before he defected to the Trinamool. He is very low profile even though he has been a visible face on TV chat shows where he had struggled to defend the indefensible acts of Rahul Gandhi and the UPA I and II regimes as a Congress spokesperson.

In the electoral battlefield, too, Siliguri reflects the issues that face Bengal at large. The ruination of Bengal during the Left regime, and the state’s further decline over the past ten years under Mamata Banerjee, are the deciding poll issues.

“We have been victims of the Left’s neglect of Siliguri for many years. Ashok Bhattacharya was the urban development minister and could have really done a lot for Siliguri, but he did nothing. Goutam Deb and (his successor) Rabindranath Ghosh could have also done a lot. They too did nothing.

So with face do the CPI(M) and Trinamool candidates come to us seeking our votes. Shankar Ghosh may have joined the BJP recently, but we will vote for the party and give it a chance to develop Siliguri,” said Triloki Nath Mittal, a prominent businessman.

Mittal’s sentiments are echoed by a huge number of people that Swarajya spoke to. Having suffered due to the apathy and inaction of both the CPI(M) and the Trinamool, residents of Siliguri now want to give the BJP a chance.

There are, however, a substantial section of committed voters of both the CPI(M) and the Trinamool. Since Ashok Bhattacharya is the Sanjukta Morcha candidate, he will also get the committed votes of the Congress (a partner in the alliance). And also a section of the Muslim votes.

But on the ground, the dice seems to be loaded in the BJP’s favour. People appear to be inclined towards the ashol poriborton (real change) that the BJP has promised.