Nandigram is a fight to watch out for, not because Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is contesting from this constituency but the challenge she is facing from her protege and ex-Trinamool leader Suvendu Adhikari, who joined the BJP in December last year. The Trinamool chief, who chose to contest from the place that propelled her to prominence in the state and in the world, is not just up against an individual but the first family of the region. So is Mamata Banerjee in trouble? The chief minister surely faces a tough challenge from the family that is synonymous with Nandigram.

Suvendu Adhikari, who hails from a family that has been in politics for three generations, began to gain prominence in the state politics during  Mamata Banerjee’s Nandigram movement in Purba Medinipur in 2007. He was seen as the brain behind the movement that led to the end of the Left Front’s 34-year-rule in the West Bengal elections in 2011. The protest not only made a star out of Mamata Banerjee but also Suvendu Adhikari.

From then on, he was one of the closest aides of Mamata Banerjee, her Man Friday.  The aide she often turned to in the hour of need. But, all that ended on December 19 when Suvendu Adhikari, after weeks of speculation, joined the BJP.

Also read: Why all eyes are on Nandigram

The Adhikaris, who are referred to as ‘Mir Jafars (traitors)’ by Mamata Banerjee now, have dominated the region by muscle and money power for nearly two decades. Suvendu’s father Sisir Adhikari, 79, is in his third term in Lok Sabha. A former Congressman, he also served as a minister in Manmohan Singh’s government. Suvendu Adhikari’s two brothers are in politics too — Dibyendu Adhikari is the MP from Tamluk and Soumyendu Adhikari is the chairman of the Contai municipality. The Adhikaris joined the Trinamool Congress after Mamata Banerjee formed the party in 1998.

Suvendu Adhikari, 50, was quick to step into his father’s shoes with probably much better organisational skills. He won his first assembly election in 2006 and then made a hattrick by winning the Tamluk Lok Sabha seat in 2009 defeating CPM strongman Lakshman Seth in Tamluk and in 2014, he was re-elected to Lok Sabha.

In 2016, when the BJP started expanding its footprint in the state, Mamata Banerjee was quick to get her ‘best bet’ back to the state. Adhikari quit Parliament and became a minister in the Mamata government.

Suvendu Adhikari, like a good soldier, followed the orders of the top boss of his party and started strengthening the organisational base, and his own clout in Medinipur and beyond. Adhikari, apart from Purba Medinipur, reportedly has significant influence on Bankura, Purulia, and Paschim Medinipur that fall under Jungle Mahal, the area that was once the Maoists hotbed. These four districts together have nine Lok Sabha and 63 of the total 294 assembly seats. The dominance of one party on this stretch may jeopardise the chances for others in these districts.

Rattled by the BJP’s victories in 18 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal in 2019, Mamata Banerjee rushed to appoint Suvendu Adhikari the Trinamool Congress in-charge of assembly bypolls that were held a few months later. Adhikari dutifully delivered. The Trinamool Congress emerged victorious in all three bypolls including in Kharagpur Sadar, state BJP president Dilip Ghosh’s constituency.

Mamata Banerjee, who once appointed Suvendu Adhikari to gain the clout in these areas, is today facing the challenge that she herself created. Going by the swelling crowds at BJP rallies and the saffron party’s internal survey and several ground reports, Nandigram is a very close fight for the chief minister, who ruled the state unchallenged for a decade. Adhikari is among those few who are not dependent on Mamata Banerjee for votes.

Also read: Mamata Banerjee, the street-fighter who loves a good contest

What prompted the then Mamata loyalist Suvendu Adhikari to join the BJP, and then contest against her?

Rise of Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee, according to some Trinamool leaders, who said that Adhikari was miffed because Abhishek was being given more responsibilities in the party management.

Adhikari, who was not only a grassroots worker of the party, but was number 2 in TMC when Mukul Roy -who was considered Mamata right hand – switched to the BJP in 2017.

But the rise of Abhishek Banerjee within the party with the ‘blessings’ of his ‘Pishi’ – Mamata Banerjee – did not go down well with Suvendu Adhikari, who saw no political future for himself within the party. Adhikari, who was at the front of Mamata Banerjee’s campaign for these years, took backstage and eventually resigned as a minister. His resignation was a feeler to the opposition BJP who were looking for ‘partners’ in the state to counter the ‘unchallenged’ chief minister. And, who can counter ‘Didi’ better than ‘Dada’, hence Suvendu Adhikari was pitted against Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram. Posters and banners – with Suvendu Adhikari’s picture minus the TMC symbol, put up by a newly formed group called Dada’s Anugami or Brother’s Followers – are everywhere.

Nandigram constituency has about 2.75 lakh voters of which around 2 lakh voters are Hindus. Suvendu Adhikari who openly talks against Muslims and chants “Jai Shri Ram” at public meetings, hops from one temple to another, clearly has polarised the votes in this Hindu-dominated seat. Interestingly, to counterbalance Mamata Banerjee too had to make several visits to temples, and even got herself ‘injured’ in one such case. Mamata Banerjee and her party, however, claim that she was attacked by the BJP workers at a temple in Nandigram, the allegation refuted by the Opposition and the poll body too. Since then, Mamata Banerjee has been campaigning sitting in a wheelchair.

In Mamata Banerjee versus Suvendu Adhikari, polarisation and Hindutva have taken a centre stage and could possibly change the dynamics in the region when the votes are counted on May 2.

However, the swelling crowd in BJP rallies in the state and the visibly stressed Mamata Banerjee indicate that the road ahead won’t be smooth for the chief minister, because the BJP has carefully chosen her opponent – Suvendu Adhikari.