New Delhi, March 31 – In West Bengal, the upcoming state election at the end of April is more than just a political contest; it is a fierce struggle for identity and dominance between the Chief Minister and her former aide, who is currently the Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly.
The battleground is the Bhabanipur Assembly seat.
Politics became personal in 2021 when Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee challenged her long-time lieutenant, Suvendu Adhikari, at his stronghold in Nandigram in Purba Medinipur district.
This contest, which many Trinamool Congress supporters dubbed a "lesson for Suvendu," did not go well for Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Although the Trinamool Congress won 215 of the 294 seats in the 2021 Assembly elections, Mamata Banerjee lost by nearly 2,000 votes.
Mamata Banerjee had relied on her own role in mentoring Adhikari, but not on the fact that Adhikari had coordinated and built up the 2007 Nandigram resistance.
This movement played a significant role in the Left Front's defeat in 2011.
The Adhikari family has a long history in Purba Medinipur, where his father, Sisir Adhikari, represented the Kanthi Lok Sabha constituency three times consecutively (2009, 2014, and 2019) as a Trinamool Congress MP.
He withdrew in 2024 due to age and health concerns, and the seat went to his son, Soumendu, who won as a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate.
Interestingly, four of the seven Assembly constituencies within the Parliamentary seat went to the BJP in the 2021 state election.
Since Suvendu's departure, the family has severed ties with the Trinamool Congress.
Meanwhile, the Tamluk Lok Sabha seat, one of the seven Assembly constituencies that includes Nandigram, was also won by BJP candidate Abhijit Gangopadhyay. For Mamata Banerjee, this was another by-election from her "Para (neighborhood)," Bhabanipur, which allowed her to retain her position as Chief Minister of West Bengal for the third consecutive term.
Now, it is her former protégé, Suvendu Adhikari, who has brought the fight to her (Mamata Banerjee's) doorstep.
However, Suvendu Adhikari has chosen to contest from Nandigram as well, keeping his options open for entering the State Assembly. This has created some unease within the Trinamool camp.
Top leaders from the Trinamool Congress are actively campaigning for their leader in Bhabanipur as she undertakes an election tour of the state.
Suvendu draws support from several factors. Firstly, he claims that the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls will eliminate a large portion of the Trinamool's voter base, which he alleges are "non-existent" or "illegal migrants". He is also relying on the anti-incumbency factor, which stems from issues such as law and order, including the rape and murder of a medical intern at the R.G. Kar Hospital, political violence, and fraud and smuggling cases filed against Trinamool leaders by central investigating agencies.
Additionally, a large number of administrative and police officers have been transferred by the State Election office, which Suvendu Adhikari accuses of being loyal to Mamata Banerjee.
Even the returning officer for Bhabanipur was replaced, facing criticism from the Trinamool Congress, who alleged close ties with Suvendu Adhikari.
While the ruling party and the state's principal opposition are trading accusations, Bhabanipur has become the focal point, awaiting the clash between the two political titans.
For context, Mamata Banerjee has only lost two elections in her long career, first representing the Congress before forming her own party in 1998.
She was elected as an MP from the Jadavpur constituency in 1984, defeating CPI-M veteran Somnath Chatterjee. However, she lost to CPI-M's Malini Bhattacharya in 1989.
Between 1991 and 2009, she won six consecutive terms from the Kolkata Dakshin Parliamentary seat.
Soon after, her party, in alliance with the Congress, defeated the Left Front, and Mamata Banerjee contested a by-election from Bhabanipur in 2011.
She won the seat in 2016, but chose to contest from Nandigram in the last Assembly election in 2021.