CALCUTTA, 8 May 2004 — Opposition parties in India’s Marxist-ruled West Bengal state are gearing to face an unlikely adversary on polling day — the weather.
And it could be scorching heat or torrential rain — nobody knows for sure.
Analysts say that either way the Marxists are better off because their dedicated supporters are not deterred by anything on the big day and queue up to cast their vote come what may.
But the soaring mercury is giving sleepless nights to Congress, Trinamul Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party leaders and independents in the fray before the May 10 polling day.
According to the meteorological office, temperature on Monday could soar up to 40 degree Centigrade and humidity would be a high 85 percent which might keep many voters indoors.
And that’s not all. Since 1999, it has rained heavily on May 10 each year throwing everything out of gear. And although rain is virtually ruled out this year, who knows?
Significantly, while Trinamool leaders — including Mamata Banerjee whose political future hinges on the upcoming elections — are campaigning only after sunset, communist heavyweights are taking the shooting mercury in their stride.
Marxist party chief Anil Biswas suffered a sunstroke and had to be hospitalized after non-stop electioneering in Nadia which records the highest temperature in West Bengal.
But he is back on his feet and addressing roadside meetings under the scorching sun in and around Calcutta where Marxist candidates are pitted against Trinamool heavyweights like Banerjee (Calcutta-South), Ajit Panja (Calcutta North-East), Subroto Mukherjee (Calcutta North-West) and Krishna Bose (Jadavpur).
Taking the cue from Banerjee, her close lieutenants like Pankaj Banerjee, Mukul Roy and Partha Chatterjee too are not campaigning even from door-to-door during the day, let alone organize public meetings.
And both Congress and BJP offices are deserted throughout the day. Cadres turn up after 5 p.m. after a long afternoon siesta in the comfort of their homes.
But the weather has not got the better of Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya. He has extensively toured Nadia, Midnapore, Jhargram, Murshidabad and Dinajpur where he addressed scores of meetings.
Even Jyoti Basu, who will turn 90 in July, is happily defying the weather. He has given up the comforts of his air-conditioned villa and is doing the rounds of Uttarpara, Sonapur, Naihati and Barasat in the last lap of campaigning.
But Dum Dum is the constituency Basu has focused on this time. The parliamentary seat on the city’s outskirts used to be a Marxist bastion until 1998 when it unexpectedly elected BJP’s Tapan Sikdar.
Sikdar was re-elected in 1999 and became a federal minister. This time, the CPI(M) has pulled out all stops to recapture the seat. The two factions, whose infighting resulted in the BJP victory, have reunited and the party has fielded firebrand leader Amitava Nandy to take on Sikdar.
Basu has a special interest in Dum Dum. He lives in Salt Lake which is a part of the Dum Dum seat. Basu has been campaigning relentlessly so that he does not pass his last days in an area represented by a BJP MP.
“In 1998 and 1999 the contest was not between the CPI(M) and BJP. It was a fight between two Marxist factions. This time we are united and the BJP is bound to be defeated”, the ex-chief minister says without mincing his words.
