The Jana Garjan rally of the Trinamool party took place today, with Didi announcing candidates for all 42 seats for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. The Bengal CM did not lose the opportunity to take a dig at the Modi-led Central government, saying that the pressure to conduct Bengal’s elections in multi-phase elections was not acceptable to the election commissioner, who put in his papers.
The selection of candidates reveals the true strength of any party and the Trinamool was no exception. The choice reflected a continued stranglehold by Didi and Abhishek, who displayed bravado, giving tickets to five of the BJP turncoats. She denied tickets to four prominent faces: Arjun Singh, Aparupa Poddar. Mimi Chakravarty and Nusrat Jahan, the last two being actors. Arjun Singh is not the one to take it lying down and will challenge the might of anyone contesting from the industrial belt of Barrackpore. 11 MLAs have been included in the Lok Sabha list of candidates.
Now begins stage two: the internal revolt for those who were denied tickets, the exploitation of the situation by the opposition parties and the non-cooperation by cadres by the shunned popular leaders. Only time will tell the outcome. Another repeated slogan was the offer of Trinamool of sons-of-the-soil as against outsiders, meaning most of the BJP central leadership. But she did choose Yusuf Pathan, the cricketer, for Bahrampur, who is a greenhorn in politics. Mauna Swami (silent sage) Shatrugan Sinha continues to be a son of the soil, perhaps for his many successful movies in Bengal from decades ago. Cricketer Kirti Azad has been given a ticket for his fights with Modi and quitting the BJP party. Mahua Moitra’s re-inclusion shows the defiance of the state over the removal of the MP for all the wrong reasons.
The one thing that confounds me is that both Didi and Abhishek accused the Centre of denying the committed funds on many schemes, like housing and MNREGA, and rattled many lacs of crores, held back illegally by the central government. I only wonder why a party that runs to the Supreme Court with Special Leave Petitions every other day, even for mundane matters like not handing over Sk. Shahjahan to the CBI, has still not knocked on the doors of the Apex Court, demanding the rightful share of funds on various schemes. After all, neither Modi nor Shah can treat the centrally prescribed funds on schemes as their personal assets and exercise personal discretion but follow appropriate laid-down procedures.
There must be sound reasons why famous lawyers, many of them party representatives in Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha, have not mustered much courage to seek judicial intervention in the release of funds. I have provided a list, which may see changes soon for reasons cited above.
- Coochebehar – Jagdish Chandra Basunia
- Alipurduar – Praksh Sikh Baraik
- Jalpaiguri – Nirmal Chandra Rai
- Darjeeling – Gopal Lama
- Raiganj- Krishna Kalyani
- Balurghat – Biplob Mitra
- Malda North – Prasoon Bannerjee
- Malda South – Sahnawaz Ali Rehaan
- Jangipur – Khalilur Rahman
- Bahrampur – Yusuf Pathan
- Murshidabad – Abu Taher Khan
- Krishnagar – Mohua Moitra
- Ranaghat – Mukut Mani Adhikari
- Bonga – Bishwajeet Das
- Barrackpore –Partha Bhowmik
- Dum Dum – Prof Sougata Roy
- Barasat – Doctor Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar
- Bashirhat – Hazi Nurul Islam
- Jaynagar- Pratima Mandal
- Mathurapur –Bapi Haldar
- Diamond Harbour – Abhishek Bannerjee
- Jadavpur – Sayoni Ghosh
- Kolkata Dakshin –Mala Roy
- Kolkata Uttar – Sudip Bannerjee
- Howrah – Prasun Bannerjee
- Uluberia- Sajda Ahmed
- Sreerampore – Kalyan Bannerjee
- Hooghly – Rachana Bannerjee
- Arambagh – Mitali Bagh
- Tamluk – Debangshu Bhattacharya
- Kanthi – Uttam Barik
- Ghatal – Deepak Adhikari (Dev)
- Jhargram – Kalipodo Soren
- Mednipur – June Maila
- Purulia – Shantiram Mahato
- Bankura – Arup Chakraborty
- Burdwan Purba – Doctor Sharmila Sarkar
- Burdwan Durgapur – Kirti Azad
- Asansol – Shatrughan Sinha
- Bolpul – Asit Kumar Mal
- Birbhum – Shatabdi Roy
- Bishnupur – Sujata Mandal Kha
May democracy thrive and grow without the likes of Sk. Shah Jahan and Arjun Singh.
Sampath Kumar
Intrépide Voix
