Nadia Das, 45, is fairly clear-headed about his support for the BJP. “Trinamool is very corrupt, but we also see the news. It’s not like th...
Nadia Das, 45, is fairly clear-headed about his support for the BJP. “Trinamool is very corrupt, but we also see the news. It’s not like the BJP is not corrupt,” he explained. “We know there is corruption in other states the BJP rules.”
Still, he has switched loyalties from the Left to the BJP – for a precise reason. “We want to end the maar-danga [political violence] in this area,” he said agitatedly. “In the panchayat, there was simply no vote here. They did not let anyone vote. How can that happen? How can our democratic right be taken away like that?”
Das is referring to the 2018 panchayat polls helds in West Bengal. While political violence has long been rampant in the state, that election saw an unprecedented spike. So extreme was the ruling Trinamool’s violence that in a significant number of cases, the party was physically able to prevent opposition candidates from filing nominations. As a result, the Trinamool won walkovers in 34% of gram panchayat seats, 33% of the panchayat samiti seats and 25% of the zilla parishad seats. The situation was particularly extreme in Das’ own district of Birbhum, where 41 out of 42 seats in the Zilla Parishad –...
