Two years after Basirhat hit the national headlines over Baduria riots, the elections are taking place in a situation of uneasy calm. Superficially everything is normal but dig a bit deep, there is a sense of distrust between sections of Hindus and Muslims which is a big factor in Lok Sabha polls in communally sensitive Basirhat.
Most pundits believe that Mamata Banerjee did a masterstroke by fielding leading actress Nusrat Jahan from Basirhat. It takes care of TMC's infighting and is a candidate who can get vote from both communities owing to her popularity among the masses. In the campaign trail, Nusrat's view about triple talaq created a stir among the conservative section of the Muslim society and Mamata Banerjee had to finally intervene to douse the fire. BJP has fielded a strong candidate in state general secretary Sayantan Basu. Sayantan initially faced some heat for being an 'outsider' from local BJP leaders. However, he has run a strong campaign and is expected to give a tough fight to Nusrat.
The only 'bhumiputra' in the fray is Congress candidate and Baduria MLA Qazi Abdur Rahim aka Diluda. Diluda is a popular leader and his father was also a respected Congress leader in Baduria. He is expected to get a significant chunk of the 54% minority votes in Basirhat.
Also in the fray is CPI's Pallab Sengupta, who is unlikely to make much impact barring in Left pockets. So it is essentially a two-way contest but whose votes CPI and Congress get may impact the final result. The geographical expanse of Basirhat Lok Sabha located in North 24 Parganas is massive. It includes Baduria, Haroa, Minakhan, Sandeshkhali, Basirhat Dakshin, Basirhat Uttar and Hingalganj (SC) assembly segments.
Nusrat Jahan has run a hectic campaign through the length and breadth of this huge constituency. Mamata Banerjee in her rally for Nusrat said that people of Basirhat didn't do riots, it was orchestrated by BJP. In 2014, TMC's Idris Ali won from Basirhat defeating CPI's Nurul Hooda by 1.10 lakh votes. In 2009, TMC's Haji Nurul Islam won against three-time MP of CPI(M) Ajay Chakraborty by 60 thousand votes. Historically, this has been a CPI stronghold with stalwarts like Indrajit Gupta going to Parliament from Basirhat. CPI has won the seat eight times at a stretch before TMC ended the winning run in 2009. Overall, CPI has won Badirhat 10 times, Congress four times and TMC two times. Now defunct Bangla Congress won twice in '67 and '70.
On 19th May, Basirhat citizens will be voting in the backdrop of a riots couple of years earlier. The final result will be keenly watched across the country.
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