'No Clothes, No Home Food, Single Room, One Bed': BJP's WB Panchayat Poll Candidates in 'Safe House'

A 40-minute drive from Kolkata will take you to Baraipur. A BJP office stands here; lonely and empty till you walk up and enter a hall. Messy with clothes and used utensils strew all over, the room narrates the story of what the BJP claims was pre-poll violence. “You all know the reality. The TMC goons have been unleashed on us and we have to protect those of us who dare to fight the panchayat elections,” Uttam Kar, BJP district president of Baraipur, tells News18.

Hillo Patra, 26, lives in this BJP office, which is now is called the ‘safe house’. Patra has been away from home ever since he filed his nomination papers for West Bengal Panchayat Elections 2023.

“My family was told not to let me contest. But I want to. They (family) are scared for me, but I decided I will stay away from them and live here. The TMC leaders keep coming home to pressurise my parents. It will be worse if I lose as then the TMC leaders in my area will be emboldened. But I want to fight,” he says.

Gautam Nashkar, another BJP candidate who is also living at the ‘safe house’ away from home and family, agrees with Patra. “Yes, in politics we must not be scared. I live here like a beggar — no clothes, no home food, and so many of us in one room and one single bed. But this is commitment.”

At a short distance, TMC leaders are trooped under a tree at the main market. “This is most unfair. In some cases, people have personal issues and they come there and complain of violence. Tell me didi, if I am winning and we are (in power) in the state, why should we do this?” a leader asks addressing this reporter.

Poetically out of place in this politically charged environment is the emissary of non-violence Swapan Dutta. A highly decorated Baul singer — the traditional Bengali folk art linked to mysticism – Dutta travelled with the News18 team to Birbhum. A poster around his neck urges people to come out and vote peacefully in the July 8 panchayat elections.

“I have been watching. I don’t want to get into who or which party is responsible. I just want baul to convince people to go out and vote,” he says.

As crowds gather to listen to Swapan Dutta in Birbhum’s Nanoor, they remember that this was also the area where more than 200 crude bombs were discovered near the TMC office during last panchayat elections.

“We will still vote, but the numbers have been falling,” a resident tells News18.

According to the data released by the state election commission, there are a total of 63,229 gram panchayat seats. The TMC has fielded 85,817 candidates, while the BJP has fielded 56,321. The one-year gap to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections has thrust the local polls to national spotlight with the BJP and Left-Congress hoping that pre-poll violence and corruption charges will eventually become a factor in 2024 polls to outsmart the TMC in the state.