5 prickly issues shape race in Rashbehari amid land grab and parking charges
Telegraph | 28 April 2026
The constituency exemplifies many things good about south Calcutta: leafy neighbourhoods, streets dotted with chic cafes, sprawling parks, an iconic lake and several crowd-puller Durga Pujas. Rashbehari also borders the most high-profile battleground this election, Bhabanipur.
Rashbehari also has its dark side: construction syndicates, parking goons and land grabbers.
The incumbent Trinamool Congress MLA, Debasish Kumar, doubles as the mayor-in-council member for parks and squares and parking of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC).
His opponent, BJP candidate Swapan Dasgupta, is focusing on the dark side in his campaign and also how the good can be better.
The Telegraph spoke to Dasgupta, who feels Rashbehari is being ruined, and Kumar, who says all is well.
Swapan Dasgupta’s charges:
1 Construction syndicate: The syndicate is grabbing everything. We have seen the evidence after the Sona Pappu incident. It exposed the syndicate raj in the constituency and brought everything out in the open.
(Biswajit Poddar alias Sona Pappu was allegedly involved in a clash on Kankulia Road in February in which gunshots were fired. The Enforcement Directorate recently raided his house in connection with a land-grab case.
Candidate Kumar, too, has been questioned in connection with the case several times.
Poddar once lived on GS Bose Road in Kasba. He gained notoriety as Sona Pappu after he started managing his father Hari Narayan Poddar’s jewellery shop in Picnic Garden.)
2 Parking syndicate: Illegal parking is being allowed everywhere in the area. The car parking syndicate controls everything. This is a major problem in the area.
I plan to end syndicates, extortion and councillor-backed land grab. Restoring law and order and creating a safe Rashbehari is part of my plan of action.
3 Parks out of bounds: Deshapriya Park and Vivekananda Park are now often out of bounds for residents. They are controlled by a handful.
4 Lack of infrastructure at Kalighat temple: The Kalighat temple has been taken over by the mafia. Millions of pilgrims visit the temple, but it lacks basic facilities — no clean washrooms, no proper eateries. Compare this to the infrastructure of Puri and Varanasi. I want to improve the infrastructure of the Kali temple by upgrading pilgrim rest areas, hotels and hygiene.
5 Fear factor in slums: I am getting a very good response from voters everywhere. There is a good response from residents of the slums, too, but the fear factor is my concern.
There are around 15 slums in my constituency, big and small, which have about 30,000 voters. In many of these slums, the fear factor is very high because the TMC syndicates are threatening voters and trying to lure them with liquor. The mafia are very active in the Kalighat area.
Debasish Kumar refutes:
1 Construction syndicate: If Dasgupta can prove it (the existence of such a menace and his alleged involvement in it), I will withdraw my nomination.
2 Parking syndicate: This is an absolute lie. He must apologise if he fails to provide any evidence. There may have been stray instances where parking attendants overcharged. There is an established procedure, and people can lodge complaints. Dasgupta may visit the KMC and see instances where action was taken against errant parking attendants.
3 Parks out of bounds: Yes, there are cricket coaching camps in some of the parks. It is a way of promoting a sport, promoting cricket. The cricket coaching camps were not set up during my tenure. They have been around for decades, since the Left Front’s rule.
4 Kalighat temple: I do not think he has visited the Kalighat temple in many years. He has no idea what the temple was like a few years ago. There has been a sea change in its infrastructure and amenities. Dasgupta himself was a Rajya Sabha member. I’m not aware whether he allocated any funds for the temple’s improvement.
(Dasgupta said he recently visited the temple with his party leader and Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan.)
5 Fear factor in slums: He is an educated person. Maybe he does not mix with people in the slums. I do not know what made him think so lowly of slum dwellers or feel that slum dwellers have no intelligence. He has insulted slum dwellers. They will give him a befitting reply in the ballot box.
Will I win?
Dasgupta: I am getting a very good response from people. But I am concerned about the fear factor. Also, it is a challenge to get highrise residents to come out to vote, overcoming their fear. People want their candidate to be easily available. I am a local resident and will be accessible to all.
Kumar: I am in politics for 48 years, out of which I have been an elected representative for 26 years. I work 365 days a year for the people, and I am confident they will judge it right. My doors have been open for everyone. People have come and met me without any reference.
Promises
Dasgupta: I’d want to create Bengal’s cafe and culture district in Rashbehari. With better urban resident-centric planning, the area from Hindustan Park to Jodhpur Park will showcase Calcutta’s ‘cafe culture’ on the tourist map. We will end parking extortion, improve women’s safety and generate new jobs and economic opportunities.
Rabindra Sarobar, Calcutta’s lungs, must be protected and preserved. Cleaner walkways, improved sports and recreation facilities, and a firm stop to illegal construction are essential.
Kumar: I want Rashbehari to come up as a cultural and sports hub. There are large auditoriums like Nazrul Mancha and Uttam Mancha. There are so many sports clubs. I will ensure that funds are available to create world-class infrastructure.
So many cafes have come up in the past five years or so. If there is a demand in the market, cafes will come up. It only shows that there is a thriving local economy.
A common man
Brij Lakhotia, 67, who runs a shipping business: For me, the biggest issue this time is communal harmony. I don’t want a party that will bring communal tension. My family is in Rashbehari since 1956.
I have to go to Kidderpore and Garden Reach for work, and often come home late at night from there. I never feel unsafe. My workers are all Muslims, and they work very hard and work sincerely.
I am a successful man who wants to live peacefully. I saw tension in the late 1960s when I was 10 years old. But since then, we have all lived peacefully.
SIR factor
Trinamool sources said around 200 voters from Rahim Ostagar Road, a neighbourhood with a slum and many people from the low-income group, have been removed from the electoral roll. In neighbouring 52 Gobindapur, a colony along the railway tracks in Dhakuria, more than 100 voters have been struck off the rolls.
Nimai Mondal, who stays near Jodhpur Park market, said his wife’s name was among those struck off. “Mithu was called for a hearing. She submitted her voter card and Madhyamik pass certificate and other papers. Yet her name was deleted. She has now appealed to the tribunals, but we are unsure if she will be able to vote,” Mondal said.
Trinamool workers and leaders in Jodhpur Park, however, feel the name deletions will not have much impact.
Of the nine wards that make up the Rashbehari constituency, Kumar had the highest lead from Ward 93 (4,800), where Nimai and Mithu Mondal live. Kumar won Rashbehari by about 20,000 votes in 2021.
“We will be able to retain the lead in Ward 93 because people have realised the BJPs’ dirty tricks and how they have deleted original voters through the SIR. Even large housing complexes that did not allow political leaders to campaign inside have invited Debada several times in the past one or two years,” said a Trinamool leader.