Hridayapath, Dispatch 6: North Bengal — A BJP Fortress In The Making

From Kishanganj, the path takes me through the 'chicken's neck' towards Assam. The North Bengal constituencies — Raiganj, Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar and Cooch Behar — have turned into BJP strongholds over the last decade. BJP won all the five constituencies in 2019. Even in the assembly elections of 2021, it outdid TMC in this part of the state.

Raiganj

I enter West Bengal through the Upper Dinajpur district. It falls under Raiganj constituency. BJP's Debasree Chaudhuri got elected from this constituency in 2019. She has served as a MoS (Minister of State) in the Women and Child Development Ministry. She has now been asked to contest from the Kolkata South constituency.

Karthik Paul is the BJP candidate this time. He will contest against TMC's Krishna Kalyani. Krishna Kalyani was the Raiganj MLA from the BJP. He joined Trinamool Congress a couple of years ago. CPM's Mohammed Salim had won Raiganj with a measly margin of 1600 votes in 2014. 

For the 2024 elections, BJP has made candidate changes in four constituencies. In Alipurduar, Union Minister of State John Barla is replaced by Manoj Tigga. In Cooch Behar, BJP has retained its rising star, the Union Minister of State, Nisith Pramanik. In Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling, Jayanta Kumar Ray and Raju Bista are retained respectively.

Darjeeling

Naxalbari village is in the route. Shudder! The Darjeeling seat has been a BJP fortress for a long time now. It even elected Jaswant Singh, former Finance and External Affairs Minister, even though he was from western Rajasthan. Former foreign secretary, Harsh Vardhan Singla, was doing the rounds a few weeks back, in the hope of getting a BJP ticket.

Siliguri straddles between Mahanandi and Teesta rivers. It is known for the 3Ts — tourism, timber and tea. NH 27 will give any road in the world a run for its money.

Siliguri and Alipurduar have been melting points of cultures. They are part of the old silk route. Cities such as these usually have higher tolerance and there is amity among people. China, Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan are not too far away.

In Siliguri, I met with Sanjay Saha and Nivedita Biswas. They both work for Domino's Pizza. They begin by saying that Siliguri has blossomed over the last decade. Five new franchises of Domino's Pizza have opened in Siliguri over the last three years.

The local MP Raju Bista is doing a good job. He has pushed for upgrading the airport and helped expand the medical college (part of PM Modi's health infrastructure drive).

There were no communal violence and party clashes in Siliguri town post-2019, like in other parts of West Bengal. Nivedita was categorical that Sandeshkhali is a non-issue here. I realised that North Bengal has a different state of mind and operates at its own wavelength compared to the rest of the state.

They say that CAA will be a big issue here as many Hindu immigrants from Bangladesh have settled here. There was a celebration in the street when the CAA rules were announced a few weeks ago.

Nivedita chips in to add that the state government schemes for women are a hit. She mentions the 'Lakshmi Bhandar' scheme of the state government that provided Rs. 1000-1200 per month for formally unemployed women above 25 years of age, including housewives.

She also refers to the 'Kanyashree' and 'Rupashree' schemes — aimed at scholarships and one-time payments to poor women who are about to get married, respectively.

The electricity (under the Saubhagya scheme) is available 24x7. The water pipes are being laid under the 'Jal Jeevan Mission' and the number of connections is increasing in many areas.

Her relative had availed the Ayushman Bharat Insurance Scheme (PMJAY) for life-threatening diseases, where poor households are insured up to Rs. 5 lacs. They were a little upset that the LPG subsidy had come down. Initially, they used to get a refund of about Rs. 450, now they are getting around Rs. 50.

They mostly get their news from Aaj Tak or Bengali channels. They also watch quite a bit of YouTube. She says that people here mostly vote for development.

Cooch Behar

We cross the Torsa River and proceed towards Cooch Behar. It is a quaintly beautiful town. There is a royal palace that apparently was built to rival the Buckingham Palace. There are very beautiful ponds and small temples that are aesthetically pleasing. The Madan Mohan Temple is gorgeous! 

I get chatting with Kuheli Mitra, Vijay Pradhan and Ujjwal Das. They manage a small hotel near the Cooch Behar airport. They seem to be in their 20s. They agree that a lot of work has happened over the last 5-10 years, but much more needs to be done.

The infrastructure has been upgraded. They said that the road before them used to be a one-lane road. Now, it is a pucca two-lane road. There is a working airport with daily flights from Kolkata. But the operation needs to be improved.

There is water-supply infrastructure, but the quality of service is not great. Kuheli feels that there is a lot of potential for tourism that is not being exploited. The youngsters find jobs mostly in Siliguri. Some go to Mumbai or Delhi.

The hospitals nearby are doing okay. They are satisfied with the education institutions as well. They did not have any idea about the MUDRA scheme or Kaushal Vikas Yojana. Kuheli too mentioned the Lakshmi Bhandar scheme. I carefully ease into political questions. Kuheli says she is not at all interested in politics. They are very finicky about talking about it but said that they will vote based on performance.

But, the other two mention that Pramanik meets people regularly. People think well about PM Modi. He recently held a well-attended rally in the constituency.

Nisith Pramanik is in his late 30s. He is a former school teacher. A very exciting long-term prospect for the BJP. His mother is Koch-Rajbongshi. The BJP has found strong backing from this community. BJP has nominated Anand Rai — a descendant of the Cooch Behar royal family — to the Rajya Sabha. They have mixed opinions about the Citizenship Amendment Act.

Alipurduar

What is common between Anant Kumar Hegde, Varun Gandhi and John Barla? All of them spoiled their careers by being motor-mouths. Hegde spoke about changing the constitution, Varun Gandhi criticised the government and Barla advocated for a separate North Bengal state.

Manoj Tigga has replaced John Barla. Barla was a promising politician. He is the son of a tea garden worker. Before joining the BJP to face up against Mamata Banerjee, he earned his political spurs working with the left. He was even made the Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs. Speaking out of turn is a big issue in BJP. Candidates have to maintain discipline.

Alipurduar is in the Dooars region. It is in the foothills of the Eastern Himalayas filled with national parks and tea estates. A part of the old Silk Route, now it is an important railway station for the region that connects North East of India. This is also the entry port to Bhutan. It is home to the famous Buxar Tiger Reserve which is home to the Royal Bengal Tiger.

I stopped to have tea at the famous Naresh tea stall at Alipurduar. I get chatting with the owner, his son and a couple of his friends. Shubroto Sarkar and Manoj Kundu say that there has been good development inside the city, but the rural areas suffer from utter backwardness. Bengal lags even behind Bihar and UP, they say.

These people are fed up with the TMC. They say that TMC will definitely lose both in 2024 and 2026. There was violence in the suburbs post the 2021 elections, but not inside the city.

They say that the new candidate Manoj Tigga will win. He has the backing of the RSS and hence people trust him. They think very highly of Prime Minister Modi and say that only he can save Bengal. The CAA is very emotional issue here and it will help the BJP. They like the Vande Bharat trains that stop at Alipurduar. "It is like flight!" they said.

The gangsterism of TMC seems to be a vexing issue here. I think someone who promises to be a bulldozer sarkar might have a chance of capturing the hearts of people. People really dislike Didi in this town. These folks were afraid of being photographed. (The tea was expensive for a roadside shop, but the best I have had in ages).

I encountered a bunch of jolly youngsters — Amarjeet Sonar, Raj Shekar and Sagar Das. I get chatting with them on the development over the last few years. One said that his life has changed in the last 10 years as he has a lot of money to spend now. I realised that he was wearing the TMC armband. He said the roads are much better and there is a general all-round development. More people have got vehicles and hence his mechanic business is booming. He says he has money and his friends and "aur kya chahiye!"

He becomes friendly rather quickly. He says that he has to wear the TMC armband, he shows his necklace and says that he is a "Jai Shri Ram person." He has to wear the armband because of "majboori," He added, "Samjho bhaiya!" I asked him whether there was 'gundaism' here. He said they were the gundas and have gone to beat people up! I was taken aback!

He said that people might say anything when you ask, but they will ultimately vote for BJP in North Bengal. It doesn't matter the candidate has changed. He said that the CAA was the right thing to do and that Bangladeshi Muslims should not be given citizenship. He parted by saying that he spoke his heart out and hoped that I appreciated it.

I heaved a sigh of relief as I got into the car.

The police checking has been amped up. We were stopped quite a few times. The Haryana licence plate is not helpful at all!

This report is part of Swarajya's 50 Ground Stories Project - an attempt to throw light on themes and topics that are often overlooked or looked down. You can support this initiative by sponsoring as little as ₹2999. Click here for more details.

Read the previous articles in this series:

Hridayapath, Dispatch 1: What Moradabad, Pilibhit, And Rampur Think About Modi Sarkar And 2024 Election

Hridayapath, Dispatch 2: Discussing National And Local Issues In This Slice Of Northern Uttar Pradesh

Hridayapath, Dispatch 3: The Uttar Pradesh Capstone — Election Trail Chronicles From Ghaziabad To Kushinagar

Hridayapath, Dispatch 4 — 'Phirse Modi Ho, Bihar Me Bahar Ho'

Hridayapath, Dispatch 5: Too Much Negativity Peddled About Bihar — Notes From Mithila And Seemanchal