Diamond Harbour is West Bengal’s Amethi with the de facto showrunner of the Trinamool Congress, Abhishek Banerjee, pitted against the BJP’s Abhijit Das. Calling the delay a “strategic surprise’, the saffron party – after much deliberation, brainstorming and scouting – announced its candidate in this Lok Sabha constituency only last week.
But, the political buzz suggests that the late announcement and the choice of candidate are signs of a “walkover” to Abhishek Banerjee. The BJP leaders in the district, however, are putting on a brave face claiming that Abhijit Das is the only person who knows Abhishek and his “acts”, and will put in all effort to give him a tough fight.
Diamond Harbour in the South Parganas district is the most crucial seat in West Bengal for several reasons. It has a colonial past and a violent present.
Political violence, including murder, assault, arson, ransacking and criminal intimidation, has long afflicted state politics, but this district has led the way since the 2018 panchayat elections.
A bipolar contest
Even though the CPM has fielded a young candidate, Pratik Ur Rahaman, the seat is up for a bipolar contest, local residents said. They are calling it a ‘Bhaipo vs Bobby’ fight – Abhishek as ‘bhaipo’ (Bengali meaning nephew), as he is the nephew of chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Das as ‘Bobby’, locally known by his nickname.
Das, though not a heavyweight in Bengal politics, fought Abhishek once in 2014. He was made the district president of the state BJP during the TMC leader’s second term in 2019. A local politician groomed by the RSS, he joined active politics and became a candidate for the first time in 2009. Both in 2009 and 2014, when the BJP was hardly organised in the state, he lost.
“The evaluation of my political career should be based on the past context and the organisational capability. In 2009, my deposit was forfeited but did anyone evaluate the situation at that time? Our party did not have any presence here, was not even known much in the state. The BJP’s symbol was alien to the people. In 2014, the party did not have any organisational capability, everything was ad hoc. I got 17% votes here and that was the vote share of the party in the state as well, so I did not fare that poorly,” Das told News18.
“Abhishek is nothing but a Hitler (referring to the Nazi Germany dictator Adolf Hitler). Since 2014, when he was elected as an MP for the first time, to date, people could not even cast their vote. And it is not about opposition voters. Even the Trinamool voters were not allowed to cast their votes. This is the extent of intimidation and fear. He rules this area with his criminal gangs. I am not afraid of him, he should be afraid of the people,” he said, adding that the BJP’s delayed decision in naming him as a candidate is a “calculated step”.
Abhishek, who is travelling across constituencies, is yet to start campaigning in his own constituency. Trinamool MLA Saokat Molla, who is close to Abhishek, said, “Abhishek Banerjee has developed this area. Do you see the super-speciality hospital, the all-women university, the kisan mandis and the newly built roads? Isn’t it development?” he asked.
“In the last 10 years, he has spent Rs 5,800 crore to uplift this constituency. People love him, and they will bless him. There is no fight here and the BJP will get the least votes from this constituency,” he added.
Molla is incharge of a major portion of the Diamond Harbour and is believed to be Abhishek’s most trusted lieutenant.
The red herring
The CPM has fielded 33-year-old Pratik Ur Rahaman in Diamond Harbour. He presently holds the position of SFI national vice-president, is a resident of the area and a known face. He fought the elections in 2021 as well.
The next-generation CPM is also a member of the party’s state committee. “Of all the difficulties a candidate may face in an election, I think fighting and facing unabated violence is the worst. There is a fear psychosis in Bengal. Diamond Harbour is the worst victim because the ‘Hitler’ (another reference to Abhishek) rules from here,” he said.
“I am not even getting a car on hire here. I got one for a day, but the driver called the next day and said he had been threatened. This is the extent of intimidation here. Our workers were beaten up and bruised during the panchayat and assembly elections, many of them had to run away and could not return to their villages for the past four to five years. But, unlike the BJP, we are not going to give him a walkover; we will fight,” he told News18, while alighting from an autorickshaw that he has hired for his poll campaign, in the absence of a car.
Despite Rahaman’s bravery, the local residents said the CPM is not a force to reckon with, but only a “red herring”.
TMC’s ‘invulnerable’ fort
In Diamond Harbour, the TMC has a head start of 40 per cent Muslim vote share. Traditionally, Muslims have remained the TMC’s core vote base. This not only keeps the party afloat but gives it a comfortable margin, said political experts. Election figures and vote shares of the political parties reflect this too.
South 24 Parganas district has four Lok Sabha seats and 31 assembly segments. At least 18 of these assembly segments are predominantly rural, while the other 13 are a mix of urban and semi-urban areas. At least 17 assembly segments have over 30 per cent Muslim population, of which at least seven have more than 45 per cent Muslims.
The district has been a TMC stronghold since the 2009 general elections, and has remained key to Mamata Banerjee’s virtual monopoly over southern Bengal. The party has been winning in this seat since 2009.
Abhishek was first fielded as a candidate in 2014, and then again in 2019. He won with a margin of around 70,000 votes in 2014 and almost 3.5 lakh votes in 2019.
Rigging, violence and intimidation: ‘Routine’ for voters
News18 travelled across the constituency, which includes seven assembly segments – Falta, Satgachia, Bishnupur, Budge Budge, Maheshtala, Metiaburuz and Diamond Harbour. The TMC won all these in 2021 while there are around 68 panchayats across the Lok Sabha seat, all controlled by the ruling party since the polls in 2023.
Out of seven segments, Falta, Metiaburuz and Budge Budge have some industrial areas and business zones, which include chemical factories, hosiery units and jute mills. But, the rural voters are the predominant factor.
Some village residents in these areas, who claimed to be TMC voters, alleged that they were not allowed to exercise their franchise for years. “I have been a Trinamool worker for 20 years, but I have disassociated myself now. They did not allow me and my family to vote in the last five to six elections, including the panchayat polls. The money for 100 days’ work has not been given to us, because the panchayat pradhan wants a cut in everything,” said Zakir Hossain.
A fisherman by profession, he lost his house in the Amphan cyclone and has been living in a mud house since. “We did not even receive the financial assistance announced by the government,” he added.
His elder sister Moyna Bibi, however, said she gets the monthly allowance of Rs 500 under the ‘Lakshmir Bhandar’ scheme, a flagship initiative of the state government.
Ram Dolui, a 50-year-old farmer in Falta, said, “We have been bearing with everything, including the extortion and the rule of giving a cut from the cash we receive through government schemes. But, the violence continues to keep us on the edge. In 2018, we had seen unprecedented violence. Despite being TMC voters, we were not allowed to vote.”
A large section of village residents talked about the fear of frequent clashes, and alleged that there were “unsaid rules” about giving “cut money” to “syndicates”.
The harbour’s history
The history of the harbour is a symbolic one. It was called Hajipur in the past and first invaded by Portuguese pirates. Later, Portuguese explorers landed here.
The word ‘harmad’, which colloquially means “armed mercenaries of political parties”, stemmed from here, said a section of historians. The word ‘harmad’ is a local distortion of “armada”, meant for Portuguese pirates at that time.
In British-ruled India, this place was named Diamond Harbour and used as the sea and river harbour, conducive for business for the “rulers”. Significantly, the word ‘harmad’ was used and made popular by Mamata for the CPM’s “armed goons” before she assumed office in 2011. But, the Opposition uses the same word for the TMC cadres now.
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