It is “scorching difficult for such beautiful women of the glamour world to brave the glaring sun beating down at 45 degrees --- begging for votes in this village… What these people will do for the poor starving people … do they understand our problem…” That is how Salku Hansda a school teacher at Egra sub-division expresses his despair for political parties sending “unprofessional candidates” to work for the people’s cause..
True Medinipur parliamentary seat is not going to be a cakewalk either for the Trinamool Congress which has fielded June Malia a film actor-turned TMC MLA and Agnimitra Paul a fashion designer par excellence turned BJP MLA. And the Left Front has fielded SK Atta.
Both the BJP and the TMC are equally strong in the area in the sense that while BJP snatched the seat from the Trinamool Congress in 2019 when its candidate Dilip Ghosh defeated State minister Manas Bhuniyan by about 89,000 votes. It is another matter that the TMC wrested back all the seven Assembly seats in 2021 Assembly elections when the once mighty Left Front drew a nil.
“Insofar as developmental works are concerned the district has seen nothing more than the Indian Institute of Technology that came up 73 years ago and the Railway Station which makes it equally proud … or else no party has done anything worthwhile for the area… And if you have the Kalaikunda Airbase here it is for the armed forces and the locals have nothing to do with it,” said Padma Rajan a local artist who is a Telugu by origin.
“Yes Telugus live here in huge number and have become naturalised Bengalis … even they have started fish in great numbers … besides you have the Punjabis and Marwaris living here … but the Governments have done nothing for this area … they could have joined the twin cities of Kharagpur and Midnapore and made it a huge city of Bengal which they did not … why we cannot say,” he says.
However, he praises Dilip Ghosh for bringing some development projects for the Railways. “Dilip Da was such person who defeated his opponents where ever he went … but unfortunately he was taken away to Durgapur this time round … why I don’t know … perhaps this is because of the intra-party feud in BJP,” another local businessman and a local BJP leader.
However others say that the BJP was forced to remove Ghosh from Medinipur seat because he had angered the Kurmis who constitute a good 20 percent votes. “In fact they even gheraoed his house … after which the two sides never had the good relationship that they shared before.”
As for Paul, “she is a new comer … though she is a sitting MLA from nearby constituency in Asansol area and knows the local topography it will be difficult for her to cover the miles … and then you do not know what the voters who loved Dili Da would do now,” he says.
On the other hand the June Malia an MLA from East Midnapore and a scion of a local Zamindari family has good rapport with her electorate. “She is quite visible in the area and has personal contacts with the people … she recognises them and visits her constituency regularly … but that is for her own Assembly seat … when you talk about the entire seven Assembly segments she will have to build up the relationship afresh,” says Mukti Dey a professor adding “this is the reason why the job for both of them is difficult.”
Known for its contribution in the history of Indian freedom movement since it has produced many martyrs like Khudiram Bose and intellectual icons and social reformers like Ishwar Chandra Vidya Sagar Midnapore had seldom tolerated misrule and hegemony, says a local college professor. “During the British Raj, the undivided Medinipur became a centre of revolutionary activities and we saw bloody movements like the Chuar Rebellion (1767–1833) and the Bhumij rebellion (1832–1833).
Insofar as rural issues are concerned Medinipur featured among 250 most backward villages of the country till the last census the villagers at Danton an ancient town say.
“We have excavations here revealing the existence of an ancient settlement and this can be used to develop it as a historical site … Danton was a part of Gupta empire and also the Gajapati kings of Odisha … the Government can do something for tourism,” the professor says adding the tribal people of the State that live mostly on forest products are often haunted by the elephants.
“Many of them are killed when they go to collect forest products … already the Maoist movement aided by some local parties that then wanted to come to power has ruined the economy of this area … now if they can concentrate on its development it would be better … but they are interested in only sending film stars and glamorous people … but the people want professional politicians who can work.”
