Siliguri model faces biggest test on home turf

Siliguri: Asok Bhattacharya's Siliguri model that helped shape the Congress-CPM jote will be put to test in its home turf when Bengal goes to the polls in the second phase on Sunday.
Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee has taken it up as a "prestige fight" and has appointed her hand-picked deputies, Abhishek Banerjee and Mukul Roy, to ensure the alliance crucible breaks in Siliguri.Footballer Bhaichung Bhutia, once close to Bhattacharya, is the Trinamool frontman in this high-voltage political game.
Stakes are high in this constituency because the result has a political ramification for the entire state and is also crucial to the stability of the Left-led Siliguri Municipal Corporation. The poll arithmetic, based on performances in the 2014 Lok Sabha and the 2015 Siliguri municipal elections puts Bhattacharya ahead in the race. Yet, the fast-fluctuating vote shares of Left, Congress, Trinamool and BJP have put all of them on their tenterhooks, sending out the message that Siliguri voters keep changing their choice.
For instance, the BJP that polled a high 58,730 in Siliguri in the LS elections and was ahead in 22 of the 33 wards, was crushed in the Siliguri civic polls months later. The BJP's vote share in the civic polls came down to 24,000. The Left gained out of BJP's slide in the civic polls, adding 26,000 votes to its kitty. The Congress and Trinamool also showed marginal improvements in terms of gross votes.
This time too, Siliguri may turn out to be a different ball game for the key-players. Equations have changed, with the CPM joining hands with Congress. How far the jote will play out in this "mini India" is a question that haunts politicians. Moreover, the GJM pulling out its support from Trinamool is likely to impact polling by 12,000-odd Nepali population in the Siliguri seat. But the gain won't be total for CPM. A major chunk of the Nepali votes is likely to go in favour of BJP.
A melting pot of diverse languages, ethnicity and culture, Siliguri is no longer the town it used to be. Bengali settlements at Hakimpara, Ashrampara, Vivekanda Pally, Subhas Pally and Collegepara, and Bharatnagar in Siliguri town exist cheeck-by-jowl with non-Bengalis at Punjabipara, Pradhannagar (Nepali), Gandhi Maidan, Khalpara, Nayabazar and Nehru Road (Marwari). The trans-Mahananda settlements to the north of Sinclairs hotel are home to Bengali refugees, Biharis and Nepalis.
The Saradha scam, Narada tapes and now, the controversy over education minister Partha Chatterjee's PhD thesis seem to have had an impact on the educated Bengali middle class, a section of which may not vote for Trinamool. But the general perception about development in Siliguri, particularly roads, is good among residents, who are not quite satisfied with the Left-led civic body's work. The middle class, it seems, is polarized between Left and Trinamool.
Bhaichung, dubbed "outsider" by the CPM, is breaking barriers. With a following of young voters, he has unified the Trinamool flock. A section of independents who played spoilsports during the civic polls are working for Trinamool. A case in point is ward 6 from where Asok Bhattacharya won.
Eying the non-Bengali population, particularly the Biharis — mainly labourers and petty traders and the Rajbanshis in the added areas to win the race, Bhattacharya has fielded Dilip Singh, a Bihari from adjacent Dabgram-Fulbari, hoping he might help protect the Bihari flock from the saffron influence.
But Siliguri voters have kept their choice close to their chest. If their silence is anything to go by, the results could be a photo-finish for the winner.