The Diamond Harbour Model: Silent Fear and Development in 'Abhishek Banerjee's Seat'

Diamond Harbour: Polling station number 126 is a nondescript school in the area of Mayapur in the district of South 24 Parganas. It falls within the borders of the Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha constituency. In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, 1,047 people cast their votes at the polling station. Out of them, 1,046 voted for Trinamool Congress candidate Abhishek Banerjee, and only one for the Communist Party of India (Marxist) candidate Fuad Halim.

There are eight more polling stations in the constituency where Abhishek, the TMC national general secretary and chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew, received more than 99% of the total votes, 178 polling stations where he got over 90% of the vote share, and 527 polling stations where the TMC’s vote share exceeded 75%.

These numbers are the foundation of the ‘Diamond Harbour model’ – one which reflects Abhishek’s near-total control of the constituency.

“We are all doing very well. We get ration and all government benefits regularly, and we have steady work. I have no issues. Please write that we are doing very well. However, please do not take my picture or ask for my name and details. I am a voter from Diamond Harbour, and Abhishek babu is our MP. He is like a god!”

I could not discern whether the man who tells me the above lines while waiting with his family near the jetty to go to Haldia was being sarcastic. This experience defines my interactions with people in the constituency.

While I was talking to the above man who refused to tell me his name, a coconut vendor approached me and asked why I wanted his details. “Are you a journalist?” he asked. He immediately dialled someone on his mobile phone.

Within minutes, men arrived in three motorcycles. I was served a volley of questions. It must be mentioned that the men asking them were largely polite.

“Are you a journalist?”

“Do you have an ID card?”

“The police can arrest you for harassing people in the name of journalism.”

“Do not disturb the peace-loving people here.”

While I was being asked the above questions, several people had gathered. Many were possibly commuters, looking to enter or coming out of the Diamond Harbour station. None said a word.

Many got on the same train to Sealdah that I did. After a while, a fellow passenger who identified himself as Tapas Haldar asked, “Were you scared?”. Haldar is a cloth merchant. He said he has lived in Diamond Harbour for a while now but has grown increasingly wary of the atmosphere.

“Outsiders can’t understand what’s going on here. There is no apparent wrongdoing that you can protest against. But since the last assembly election, I’ve rented a house in Sonarpur. My family stays there. It is for their protection,” Haldar said.

Haldar said the political leaders and workers in Diamond Harbour are all comparable to Sheikh Shahjahan, whose was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate over a ration scam. Shahjahan, a TMC leader in Sandeshkhali, is also alleged to have sexually harassed women and led a mafia raj of sorts. He and the TMC have denied these charges.

Haldar added that this – this unspoken atmosphere of control and fear – is the ‘Diamond Harbour model’.

Also read: From Baharampur to Diamond Harbour: How Muslim Votes Impact the Big Fights in West Bengal

Kunal Ghosh, a close associate of Abhishek Banerjee and a former spokesperson for the TMC, dismissed allegations of fear and terror.

He told The Wire, “The Diamond Harbour model refers to continuous development and providing all services to the people. There has been massive infrastructural development, and all government benefits are being given to the poor. During the lockdown, Abhishek Banerjee arranged food for 1.2 million people, daily. Alongside general development and maintaining peace, he has created a football team that now plays in the league. Abhishek Banerjee hasn’t neglected his work!”

An impressive leader, a faltering opposition

The hands-on approach that TMC’s second-in-command has adopted manage his constituency is evident throughout Diamond Harbour. During the pandemic, testing rates in Diamond Harbour were significantly higher than the rest of the state. In 2022, Abhishek launched the Diamond Harbour Football Club. It is owned by him. DHFC boasts a foreign coach and is sponsored by local industrial houses, including Ambuja Neotia and Merlin Group, who also emerged electoral bond buyers who contributed to TMC.

Abhishek is regularly seen distributing gifts to the underprivileged during festivals. He launched a monthly pension scheme for 76,000 senior citizens in his Diamond Harbour constituency ahead of the general elections. While the opposition has questioned the source of funds, Abhishek claims this initiative is funded by TMC supporters.

Abhishek has been elected MP from this constituency twice. His campaigns have focused not just on Diamond Harbour but the whole state. “The people of my area have taken responsibility to ensure my victory, so I am campaigning for the entire state!” he often says in speeches.

The opposition is in disarray in this constituency. After much speculation, Indian Secular Front leader Naushad Siddiqui backed out from contesting against the TMC leader. Following a significant delay, the Left alliance has fielded SFI leader Pratik Ur Rahman, while the BJP has nominated Abhijit Das, known as “Bobby da” among BJP workers.

“This time, the vote will be against terror. The fear that the people of this area experienced during the last panchayat elections under the guise of development is now clear to them. Despite so much rigging in the last Lok Sabha election, BJP received a substantial number of votes. This time, the vote count will be even higher,” claimed Das.

BJP, however, is believed to be on a weak wicket in this constituency. But both BJP’s and the Left-Congress alliance’s workers note the fear at play and cite police’s readiness to file cases against opposition leaders and workers, especially before elections. They also cite the high number of votes won by TMC in the booths here in the last 10 years.

“The cold terror here does not come out, it doesn’t make the news. It started after Abhishek Banerjee became MP. The real picture of terror will emerge just by looking at last year’s election voting statistics,” claimed Rehman. As a student activist, he has faced multiple physical attacks by ruling party supporters. He said that once, he was left for dead.

Jobs, scams and so on

Areas like Maheshtala, Bishnupur, Falta, and Budge Budge within the constituency were once known for small and medium industries. Falta emerged as a free trade zone during the Left era. Parvez Rahman, who worked there for the last six years, claims, “Initially, workers came in in four shifts. There were thousands of employees. Over the past few years, most units have shut down due to extortion, causing thousands to lose their jobs.” Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate has alleged that a firm led by Abhishek, Leaps and Bounds, benefitted from the Bengal school jobs scam.

In June 2020, IFB Agro Industries reported the temporary closure of its Noorpur distillery, located in the Diamond Harbour after an attack by “150 armed goons.” In 2022, IFB Agro, which bought Rs 92 crore worth of electoral bonds of which Rs 42 crore went to TMC disclosed in a stock exchange filing that the board approved contributions of up to Rs 40 crore for the fiscal year of 2023 to political parties, citing it as in the best interest of the company and stakeholders.

Amit Naskar, a businessman from Diamond Harbour, says, “People want to speak directly with the MP. There are many problems, and everyone respects him. But we fear those who vote for him. Who has the courage to go to Kalighat [in Kolkata, where the Banerjees live] and talk to the chief minister’s nephew about their issues? Now, there is a drinking water problem throughout the area. There is no option to approach the leaders.”

In the last panchayat elections, TMC won most of the blocks uncontested. In the areas where the opposition was able to field a candidate, TMC got over 90% votes in most seats.

Manoj Mondal and Ansarullah Gazi, residents of a remote village in Diamond Harbour, worked as volunteers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Manoj says, “We were known as Red Volunteers in the area. One day, the Diamond Harbour hospital authorities told us they wouldn’t admit patients if we brought them, citing pressure from above. Local people stood by us, saying there was no one else but us to help in times of crisis. Then the hospital authorities directly told us who the orders had come from.”

Gazi adds that this is the way things are at Diamond Harbour. “Here, silent terror prevails, with anti-social elements and police acting on orders from above.”

However, Abhishek himself dismisses all of the allegations. “The opposition says these things out of frustration. The people here, like the rest of the state, are part of the development. They support Trinamool. The only opposition I face is from central agencies. They haven’t stood for election themselves. But despite all this, they won’t be able to win in Diamond Harbour,” he said.

The Diamond Harbour seat goes to the polls on June 1 in the seventh phase of the Lok Sabha elections.

Translated from the Bengali original and with inputs from Aparna Bhattacharya.