Polarising poll battle in Malda North pushes back roti-kapda-makaan issues
Times of India | 6 May 2024
MALDA: Only one municipality in ten blocks, abject poverty leading thousands to migrate from the district in search of work and the Ganges eroding acres of land. None of these issues features in the election campaign in Malda North constituency. Rather, it is the religious overtone that sets the pitch here for the candidates.
Formed in 2009 via delimitation, Malda North has seven assembly seats of Malda.Won by Congress candidate Mousam Noor, niece of eight-time MP Ghani Khan Choudhury, both in 2009 and 2014, this constituency witnessed the first defeat for Congress once Noor changed her allegiance to TMC.
BJP candidate Khagen Murmu won the seat defeating TMC by 84,000 votes sending Congress to third position. In the 2021 assembly election, Congress bled further. Reserved seats like Habibpur, Gazole and Malda - dominated by tribal and Rajbanshi population and which were the traditional CPM stronghold - went in favour of BJP.
On the other hand, Muslim-dominated Ratua, Harishchandrapur, Chanchal and Malatipur were won by Triamool. As per assembly-wise records, TMC was ahead of BJP by 2.7 lakh votes in 2021. The party has fielded IPS officer Prasun Bandyopadhyay, who has recently resigned and has for long served as SP and DIG in the region.
"Take it from me, parliamentary election is altogether a different ball game," said Congress candidate Mostaque Alam. If Malda as a whole is seen as the Ghani fortress, Alam is the first one out of this family, who was given a Congress ticket. An ex-MLA as well as ZP member, Alam has his acceptability among the minorities, especially for his work for migrated labourers during lockdown.
Bandyopadhyay is unfazed. "Malda people know who is fighting against Modi. They have seen the inaction of a BJP in last five years."
Murmu, the tribal MP from the unreserved seat, is enjoying the fight between Congress and TMC over Muslim votes. But support base of BJP among the tribal and Rajbanshi population is on the wane. With the introduction of CAA, the Matua community, which constitutes 1.8 lakh voters, were so agitated that they took to the streets.