Elections for some particular seats have become more of an extended family feud rather than a battle between two political parties.
KOLKATA: In several pockets of West Bengal, the panchayat polls this year are not merely a political contest between the CPI(M) and the Trinamool Congress or the Congress. Elections for some particular seats have become more of an extended family feud rather than a battle between two political parties.
A quick survey by DNA identified several seats where two members of the same family are contesting against each other, giving the seats a different dimension altogether, along with increased media focus. The list includes contests between father and son, mother-in-law and son-in-law, husband and wife and two sisters-in-law.
While some have been able to keep their political affiliations separated from their family relations, in select cases the contest has stooped to mud-slinging, with contestants attacking their opponents more on a personal level rather than political ideology.
One of the panchayat seats at Dankuni in Hooghly district is the classic example where political contest has been overshadowed by personal attacks. The CPI(M) candidate Namita Das is contesting against her son-in-law Habul Mondal, the Trinamool candidate. Although their houses are at a stone’s throw from each other, their relationship turned bitter a few years back after Das’s daughter married Mondal against her mother’s wishes. While Das has maintained a silence on personal matters as her party restrained her from raising the issue in the election campaign, Mondal is leaving no stone unturned to highlight how his mother-in-law tried to stop her daughter from marrying him.
While not as vicious as the former, the contest for the Humtia seat in West Midnapore district has made the relationship between a father and son quite cold and formal. Here, Panchanan Sau (70) is contesting on a BJP ticket against his son and incumbent, CPI(M) candidate Gauranga.
Although neither father nor son has directly resorted to raking up the dirt, none seems to be happy with the contest.
Gauranga has confided to friends that his father’s decision to contest against him has given the opposition an opportunity to malign him. On the other hand, Panchanan has clearly stated that he will make every attempt to oust the CPI(M) from Humtia even if it boils down to contesting against his own son.
And there is Nabagram in Howrah district where two sisters-in-law, Tripti Das of All India Forward Bloc and Nayantara Das of Trinamool, who also reside in the same house, are contesting against each other. Tripti’s husband Amiya is the elder brother of Nayantara’s husband, Lakshmikanta. Both contestants have no hesitation in admitting that despite differences in political ideology, they are best friends.
r_sumanta@dnaindia.net
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