On March 9, the day Mamata Banerjee started her campaign in Nandigram, she banked on memories of the anti-displacement struggle that she led during 2007-08. In a rally, she reminded people how she visited interior areas on a bike, evading the police and CPI(M) cadres, how she linked the movements in Singur and Nandigram and how Hindus and Muslims united to stall the government’s attempt to take over farmland for a chemical hub. A recounting was necessary, for since coming to power in 2011, Mamata’s connections with Nandigram has largely been through Suvendu Adhikari, its outgoing MLA, now her adversary.
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During Mamata’s last visit to Nandigram in December 2015, she announced at a rally that Adhikari, then a Lok Sabha MP, will be fielded from there. Adhikari went on to become a minister thereafter. By December 2020, after joining the BJP, the same man promised to sweep the TMC out of East Midnapore district, where Nandigram is located. Mamata rose to the challenge. Her announcement in January that she will contest from Nandigram is seen as ‘taking the bull by the horn’. Though Nandigram might be where the Adhikari family called the shots on behalf of the TMC, it was planted on the political map through the Mamata-led anti-displacement movement. The Bengal CM has no less claim on Nandigram’s support.
Adhikari, understandably, has mounted a spirited attack. “Do you remember how many times Mamata Banerjee visited Nandigram after coming to power? She came only ahead of elections…. Now she is banking on 62,000 votes,” Adhikari said at a rally. The ‘62,000 votes’ refers to the number of Muslim voters—over 30 per cent of the population.
On March 9, Mamata warned people against falling into the BJP’s trap of communal polarisation. “They will talk about 30 per cent and 70 per cent. Don’t respond. We are aiming for 100 per cent,” she said, before paying visits to three temples and a mazar. While filing her nomination on March 10, Mamata was injured in her leg in a melee and appeared to be in pain. She promptly alleged an attack by ‘four-five men’.
Fourteen years ago, the Nandigram movement revived the Trinamool. Mamata banks on Nandigram again in one of the toughest electoral challenges of her career.
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