By Tirthankar Mitra
KOLKATA: With the BJP and Trinamool Congress candidates hailing from Bengali film world, there is a surfeit of glamour at Ghatal constituency in West Bengal which goes to polls on May 25. But even as he seeks the people’s verdict for the second time, Trinamool Congress candidate Dev aka Dipak Adhikari is yet to become a seasoned politician in word and deed.
Mild in the criticism of his electoral rival from BJP Hiran, the TMC nominee has earned flak from his own party leaders. Indeed Deb put his foot in the mouth when he stated that veteran actor Mithun Chakraborty is like his father.
Having shared screen space while essaying the roles of a father and a son, a close bonding developed between the duo. What Dev overlooked was Mithun, a former Rajya Sabha MP for TMC is a star campaigner for the BJP in the state and he is sparing no fault words in lambasting the TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee..
To make matters worse, while in the poll campaign trail, Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee has derided Mithun Chakraborty a “Gaddar” (traitor). Not withdrawing his words in Mithun’s admiration, Dev has contradicted his leader, a ” sin” in his party’s dictionary.
It made the Ghatal candidate for TMC, a veritable punching bag though the supremo did not say a word against him. Earlier, Deb did not endear himself to the party leadership when he called upon the rank and file not to get involved in fisticuffs as leaders always settled their differences sitting across the table.
Hironmoy Chattopadhyay, popularly known as Hiron, the BJP nominee is an actor too though his popularity is not as widespread as his TMC opponent. The BJP nominee has been elected from Kharagpur (Sadar) assembly segment in 2021 elections
The BJP candidate has raked up Dev being summoned by CBI and ED and thereafter voicing his intent to quit politics. Though Deb has not replied to it, during his campaign for the actor-politician candidate, TMC’s unofficial number two Abhishek Banerjee alleged that being an out of work actor, Hiron is in politics to earn his living, a charge strongly refuted by the BJP candidate.
But it is not glamour or mudslinging but the absence of a project to remove waterlogging that may decide the fate of the contending candidates. It is Ghatal Master Plan, for an area 120 kilometre west of Kolkata to control floods, a project which is gathering dust for decades.
Drawn up in 1959 on the basis of Man Singh Committee report, the project has always been marked by the authorities dragging their feet about it. More than a decade thereafter, its foundation stone was laid in 1982 on the bank of Shilabati river.
But it seemed to have been stuck in an unknown bottleneck. A Union government organisation started drawing up a Detailed Project Report in 2009. A sum of Rs 1740 crores was fixed as project. Come 2015, Ganga Flood Action Control Scheme green lighted it. Seven years later in 2022, the Union government proposed to the state government to include it in Flood Management and Border Area program and the latter agreed to it. “Investment Clearance” was given by the Union government last year though no amount has been allocated yet.
Local people are resentful about the fact that despite being a local boy and two time MP, Dev’s initiative has been lukewarm about it. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s poll assurance that the project will be completed by the state government has run into a credibility gap.
Addressing an election rally for Dev, Mamata assured that state government will take up the project. Keeping in mind the election inching closer, she said that the local TMC MP Dev has been trying to push the project for a decade and now at his request the state government will complete it.
A huge sum is involved for the completion which a cash strapped state government is unlikely to fork out. Stating this CPI nominee Tapan Gangopadhyay felt that people will express their disenchantment with TMC for not fulfilling its previous poll promises about Ghatal Master Plan.
Apart from the absence of Ghatal Master Plan leading to triggering of annual floods, there are other issues which remain unaddressed. Lack of railway link to the sub-division and temporary river bridges are not pointers to the performance of an active Member of Parliament whose party is in power in the state.
Even as both the BJP and CPI nominees are placing the blame for Ghatal Master Plan not taking off at Deb’s door, an undercurrent of apprehension is running high within the TMC camp. Intra-party squabble led to TMC candidate trailing behind the BJP nominee at Pashkura (Paschim) and Debra Assembly segments in 2019 election.
While Pingla constituency gave a slim lead, the TMC nominee surged ahead with the votes of Keshpur Assembly segment. But in 2021 Assembly polls, lead given by Keshpur reduced. Dev has campaigned in his constituency continuously in th last few weeks. He knows about the local people’s resentment about the failure to start the Ghatal project. He is using his glamour to impress the women as also the young. He has been able to create a perception of a good meaning fellow. That may finally click in the polling booths on May 25. (IPA Service)
