It’s 5pm and there is a flurry of activity next to the Bolpur Trinamool Congress office. It’s time for water supply and residents around it and the party workers make a beeline to fill their buckets. The TMC office stands deserted except late into the night when party workers return after campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections here to be held on May 13. They have their work to do but the fire in their electioneering is gone with Anubrata Mondal, or Keshtoda as he is popularly called, behind bars in a cattle smuggling case.
Mondal has been lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail for over two years. Known as a strongman of the Birbhum-Bolpur region of West Bengal, his arrest has put the TMC in a quandary. The last time it had done well in the area, thanks to the organisational skills of Mondal. As district president, he ensured workers turned up and dragged voters to booths.
The TMC has announced many organisational changes here but the post of the district president, held by Mondal, has been kept vacant. The reason is the dilemma in the party. Even in his absence, Anubrata Mondal continues to exercise clout. His picture occupies a prominent place in the party office here. Party workers refuse to accept that his era is over. Says Sukanto Hazra, “He can never ever be finished. We continue to ask for votes in his name. He will be out soon.”
This is unlikely. And the TMC is aware. Another local, Kajal Sheikh, is becoming popular here, but the TMC doesn’t want to appoint him as district president over fear of polarisation.
The BJP had to replace its Lok Sabha poll candidate from Birbhum as it was rejected on technical grounds. Former IPS officer Debashish Dhar’s resignation from state service was not accepted and the BJP had to look for someone else. But this is an issue that the party will raise even more as “Mamata Banerjee depends on corrupt people like Mondal to win polls”.
While the TMC seems unfazed by the absence of Keshtoda, the fact is that it has added to the worries of the party. It doesn’t want to let the BJP repeat its 2014 performance. Without Mondal, Trinamool is wary.
The office looks empty but hopeful with the picture of Anubrata Mondal looking on. The party workers tell News18, “Dada dekhchhe (Dada is watching us)”.
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