In Maithon, Bengal election is where the heart is

MAITHON: The town of

Maithon

is officially a part of

Jharkhand

, but that has not stopped discussions at street corners from swaying towards the political future of

West Bengal

. Sharing more than just a border — from the nearest technical college to the only bus service and even the nearest shopping mall —there is a reason why the town is so engrossed in West Bengal’s affairs.

As the election draws near, the discussions get hotter and the opinions louder on this side of the border. Sukumar Chatterjee, a retired employee of

Damodar Valley Corporation

, who has grown up in the town, says discussing the neighbouring state is part of the town’s obsession. “Maithon, as we know it today, has been a colony settlement of DVC since the river valley project started. All political discussions here are linked to West Bengal because of the town’s

cultural influences

,” says Chatterjee, who has spent six decades in this township.

He adds that when he was growing up, Maithon was a part of Bihar but the

politics

in Patna would have little impact on this colony settlement some 400 km away. But everyone would be keen to know what was happening in West Bengal because even the nearest railway junction was in

Asansol

in West Bengal.

The bonding legacy in Maithon has been passed on through generations.

Girish Kumar Singh, who is in his early twenties, also agrees that the discussions at tea shops and drawing rooms invariably veer towards the neighbouring state. “Everyone is expected to have their opinion on the on-going election process. Youngsters are studying in colleges across the border. I have also spent four years in Kolkata to complete my BTech degree, and the influence is too strong to ignore,” he says.

Asansol resident Abhishek Ghatak, who commutes to the town daily for professional reasons, says, Maithon has been his workplace for over a decade now. “We have to rely on the border state for various reasons.

Be it for shopping at the malls in Asansol or watching a film at a multiplex, the nearest town in West Bengal has it all. Though Dhanbad is closest to Maithon in Jharkhand, it is really far away, almost double the distance of Asansol. “Obviously, people would be more concerned about West Bengal,” said Ghatak.

For all practical purposes, people here would rather go to Asansol or Durgapur than Ranchi or Dhanbad. Even for medical treatment and emergencies, the choice is the border state.