In the forthcoming Rajya Sabha polls in West Bengal, BJP seems to have taken a surprise move by fielding Rajbanshi leader and the leader of Greater Cooch People’s Association Ananta Maharaj as the party candidate.
Political observers feel that the choice of Maharaj for the post is a well-calculated move keeping in mind the Rajbanshi vote bank in tribal-dominated pockets in north Bengal, where people from the community form a decisive section of voters especially in the tea-belts of Terai and Dooars regions. The people from the community also constitute a substantial section of the voters in Indo-Bangladesh bordering Cooch Behar district.
The political experts opine that the since the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, North Bengal had been the strongest bastion for the saffron camp where they had won seven out of eight Lok Sabha seats from the eight districts of Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Cooch Behar, North Dinajpur, South Dinajpur, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar and Malda. Despite maintaining their control over the voters to a great extent, in the 2021 assembly elections, and in the recently concluded panchayat polls in West Bengal, the saffron camp has witnessed a substantial erosion in their vote-bank in North Bengal which had gone in favour of the ruling Trinamool Congress.
Political observers are of the opinion that Ananta Maharaj has substantial influence among the voters from his community in north Bengal. He is even considered as a spiritual leader among a section of Rajbanshi voters. At the same time, BJP has always favoured smaller states. So, political observers feel, the choice of Ananta Maharaj had been an extremely tactical move eyeing the crucial battle of 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
In fact, after being nominated for the Rajya Sabha by the saffron camp, Ananta Maharaj himself had been quite candid of his opinion on separate statehood involving Great Cooch Behar. “The Union government is adopting the right path as regards to our demands. So once I reach the upper House of the Parliament, I will be raising our demands in the right forum,” he said immediately after filing his nomination last week.
Political observers feel that although Ananta Maharaj was not specific on what his demand was, his indications about Great Cooch Behar were evident from what he said. According to the experts, the politics in north Bengal especially in the tribal dominated pockets is surely heading for interesting twists and turns in the days to come especially before the big battle of Lok Sabha polls in 2024.
It has been learnt that incidentally Ananta Maharaj had rejected BJP’s offer for being a candidate for the Rajya Sabha. However, later he agreed following a meeting with BJP Lok Sabha member from Cooch Behar and the Union minister of state for home affairs Nisith Pramanik.
Ananta Maharaj claims to have a solid follower-line of 18 lakhs individuals from the Koch-Rajbanshi community. He also had a meeting with the Union home minister Amit Shah in 2021, where he claimed to have discussed the issue of spate statehood.
A total of seven Rajya Sabha seats will be going to polls on July 24. As per the numerical strengths of Trinamool Congress and BJP in the West Bengal assembly, victory of six Trinamool Congress candidates and one BJP candidate is assured.
Trinamool Congress announced the names of six candidates for the seven Rajya Sabha seats. Of the six candidates announced by the Trinamool Congress leadership, three have been re-nominated. They are Derek O’Brien, Dola Sen, Sukhendu Sekhar Roy. The three new faces are Samirul Islam, Prakash Chik Baraik and the party’s national spokesperson Saket Gokhale, who mainly operates from Gujarat. Shanta Chhetri and Sushmita Dev were not given re-nomination.
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