- Siliguri and Dabgram-Fulbari are key battlegrounds in upcoming West Bengal assembly elections
- BJP fields incumbents Sankar Ghosh and Sikha Chatterjee, focusing on governance issues
- TMC reshuffles candidates, with Gautam Deb contesting Siliguri to regain lost ground
Siliguri and Dabgram-Fulbari, two constituencies in north Bengal, have turned into battlegrounds ahead of the assembly elections, where narratives of development, identity, and law and order are colliding head-on.
As the assembly polls dates, April 23 and 29, are approaching, the political mercury in this strategic gateway to the Northeast is rising fast, with every party digging in for a fierce fight.
While the TMC is trying to snatch back ground lost to the BJP, a task made tougher by the saffron surge in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, where the BJP widened its lead significantly over the Mamata Banerjee-led party.
The BJP has fielded its winning faces, Sankar Ghosh in Siliguri and Sikha Chatterjee in Dabgram-Fulbari, banking on continuity and a campaign that targets alleged governance lapses.
The TMC, on the other hand, has reshuffled its deck, moving Siliguri Mayor Gautam Deb from Dabgram-Fulbari to Siliguri in an effort to reclaim the urban seat.
However, it is emotion and outrage that are shaping the discourse now. The death of a teenage girl, who was found hanging in her home recently, has ignited a political storm.
Claiming that Deb visited the bereaved family about 36 hours after the incident, Ghosh has questioned the safety of people in the city under Deb's leadership and alleged administrative apathy.
"Is Siliguri really safe under its self-proclaimed guardian?" Ghosh asked, demanding the arrest of a private tutor whom the BJP alleged was responsible for the girl's death.
He claimed that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who held public meetings in constituencies adjacent to Siliguri, did not spare a word on the death.
Deb has attempted a counter by blending Hindutva with development messaging.
His participation in Ram Navami celebrations and chants of "Jai Shri Ram" signal an effort to connect with Siliguri's sizeable Hindi-speaking Hindu electorate, while still accusing the BJP of playing divisive politics.
Deb has gone on the offensive as well, alleging that the BJP thrives on polarisation and is encouraging demands for the division of West Bengal.
He claimed that the BJP's top priority sector is to gain political mileage out of a "conspiracy" to create a separate state comprising Alipurduar, Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling districts of West Bengal.
"The BJP gives oxygen to those spreading divisive ploys to divide the state whenever elections are near," he said.
"The BJP is not concerned about development and aims to disrupt the state's advancement," alleged Deb, who was concentrating on door-to-door campaigns across the constituency to showcase development work undertaken in the city during his mayorship.
According to the locals, the issues of development and law and order occupy the centrestage.
"Siliguri city has expanded a lot, but the real challenges remain to ensure civic facilities and lawful constructions so that planned development takes place," he told PTI.
He said that as Siliguri city is situated on the 'Chicken's Neck' near the border of three countries -- Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan -- and being the gateway to the northeastern states, it holds tremendous strategic importance.
Adding another layer of contestation is the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The BJP claims it will cleanse the system of bogus voters, projecting it as a step toward electoral integrity. The TMC, however, calls it a targeted exercise, accusing the Election Commission of bias and warning of voter suppression.
Meanwhile, the Left has entered the fray with Saradindu Chakraborty, attempting to reclaim lost ground after CPI(M) veteran Ashok Bhattacharya's defeat in 2021.
In the 2021 assembly elections, the BJP secured 50.03 per cent votes in Siliguri, while the TMC bagged 30.11 per cent and the CPI(M) 16.14 per cent votes.
In the 2024 Parliament elections, the saffron party secured 63.9 per cent, TMC 27.08 per cent and the Congress got 5.99 per cent votes from this assembly segment within the Darjeeling Lok Sabha polls.
Dabgram-Fulbari tells a similar story. Gautam Deb's defeat there in 2021 still casts a long shadow, as the BJP's Sikha Chatterjee consolidates her position with an even stronger showing in the Lok Sabha polls.
In the last assembly polls, Chatterjee won by a margin of nearly 28,000 votes.
Deb, a former minister in the Mamata Banerjee cabinet, won the constituency in 2011 and 2016.
The Mamata Banerjee-led party has fielded Ranjan Sil Sharma, a school teacher by profession, in Dabgram-Fulbari.
Maintaining that the TMC does not politicise religion, Sharma said, "We also revere Lord Ram and pay obeisance to him, but we do not try to gain political mileage from that." He said that the SIR had also taken place earlier, but people never faced harassment owing to the exercise.
"But the BJP will not be able to come to power in this manner," he asserted.
Chatterjee has kept the spotlight firmly on women's safety, calling it the government's biggest failure. "Schemes alone don't guarantee security," she argued.
"While on the one hand, Mamata Banerjee is giving Kanyashree benefits to women, and on the other, women are facing sexual offences," Chatterjee said.
In the 2021 Dabgram-Fulbari assembly segment, BJP secured 49.85 per cent votes, TMC 39.19 per cent and CPI(M) 6.95 per cent.
The BJP's vote share in this segment of Jalpaiguri district increased to 60.3 per cent in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, while TMC bagged 32.38 per cent and the CPI(M) received 4.44 per cent.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
