River bank erosion in Bengal’s Malda South Lok Sabha seat, Ghani Khan’s legacy a possible factor

Of the two remaining Congress-held Lok Sabha seats in the state – the other is Baharampur in neighboring Murshidabad district – candidates from Malda South, cutting across all parties, are also expected to feature under the influence of former Congress patriarch ABA Ghani Khan Choudhary, whose Legacy His influence on the region continues even 18 years after his death.

The Congress has handed over the responsibility of representing Ghani Khan’s brother, who won the seat consecutively in the 2006 by-elections, from ailing Abu Hasem Khan Chowdhury to his son Isha Khan Chowdhury.
Isha Khan is a former MLA from two assembly constituencies of the parliamentary seat, Sujapur and Baisanbnagar. Isha Khan is considered dominant in this Muslim-dominated seat with about 60 percent minority population, but the support of the Left gave her further lead.
The BJP has fielded Srirupa Mitra Choudhary alias ‘Nirbhaya Didi’, a tag given to her chairing a special task force on rape, trafficking and violence against women set up by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after the 2012 Delhi gang rape and murder incident. Was found for.
On the other hand, Trinamool Congress expressed its confidence in Oxford University political veteran and research scholar Shanawaz Ali Raihan.
The 2021 state election results were perhaps the biggest shock for TMC, when it won six of the seven assembly seats in this parliamentary constituency, and lost only the English Bazar constituency to the BJP, from where Srirupa is the sitting MLA.
At least five of the seven assembly constituencies of Malda South are affected by significant damage to agricultural land and settlements along the banks of the Ganga. Furthermore, frequent tragedies occurring during monsoons due to frequent changes in the course of the river have rendered millions of people homeless and taken away their agricultural livelihoods over the past few decades.
“The Center has drastically cut funds for anti-erosion measures on both banks of the Ganga and put the responsibility on the shoulders of the state,” alleged Isha Khan.
“The state, on its part, is doing a poor job by building embankments with sandbags, which is nothing more than a temporary solution,” he said. He alleged that corruption in the form of commission cuts was filling the pockets of local TMC leaders and their trusted group of contractors.
“Whichever way you look at it, it’s a huge waste of money,” the Congress candidate said.
Rehan disagrees and blames central policies for people’s troubles.
“The Center is spending thousands of crores of rupees for beautification of river banks in Uttar Pradesh, but they have not spent a single penny to find a permanent solution to the problem of erosion here or to provide relief to the displaced people,” he alleged. ”
Defending the state for its limited resources, the Trinamool Congress candidate argued, “The allocation of Rs 100 crore to strengthen the embankments is the best this government can do under the current circumstances.”
On the other hand, Srirupa has a different opinion on this issue.
“Displacement caused by land erosion forces thousands of people every year to move to places like Kerala, Gujarat and Delhi in search of work. There, they see the development initiated by the Modi government and now in their own They also want to get the same facilities.” Home state,” he said, claiming growing support for the BJP in the constituency.
“This is an election for ‘nation building’, an election to ensure the security of the country. This is an election for Modi, not for anyone else,” Sriupa said. In Malda.
There is equal consensus among all the opposition candidates on the Ghani Khan factor which still casts a spell in the minds of voters in the region. However, disagreement concerns the nature of his inheritance.
“People remember Ghani Khan with respect and gratitude for his work. But they do not like his successors in the family, who have turned into despots. Moreover, the BJP is fighting dynastic politics across the country. And the people of Malda are now looking for it. We are a viable alternative to the dubious legacy of the Congress and the corruption of the Trinamool Congress, Srirupa said.
Rehan said a significant segment of voters are first-time voters, born near the end of the patriarch’s life or after his death in 2006.
“The Ghani myth doesn’t affect them,” he said.
He alleged, “His successors rarely raised their voice in Parliament for their people. When people sent them to shout about their distress they mostly remained silent.”
However, Esha Khan is confident that she is blessed with people’s undying love for her uncle ‘Barkatda’ (a name by which Ghani Khan was better known). And for this he is counting on the anti-incumbency wave of Trinamool Congress.
“In 2021, TMC created panic over CAA and NRC, motivating people to vote for them