Sonia Gandhi at Ghani Khan Chowdhury’s grave in Malda with the late leader’s sister Ruby Noor. Picture by Amit Datta

April 28: Sonia Gandhi today gave Bengal a sneak preview of the way the next general elections will be fought, taking potshots at the CPM by referring to issues so far considered touchy.

Addressing rallies the Congress refused to call campaign meetings for next month’s panchayat polls, Sonia said she and her party were with the “oppressed people” of Nandigram.

“We know about the oppression of the people of Nandigram. Farmers, women and children there have undergone oppression unbecoming of a democracy. Humlog unke saath hai (We are with them),” the Congress president said in Behrampore.

This is the first time she has spoken publicly on Nandigram. Even at the height of the flare-up, the Congress central leadership had taken care not to be seen as embarrassing the CPM that is supporting the government at the Centre.

However, Sonia’s speeches today reflected the compulsions of electoral politics as well as the frost that has crept up on the Congress’s relationship with the Left since the standoff over the nuclear deal and the latest skirmishes over price rise.

Sonia touched upon price rise, too, which has opened a fresh flank between the Prime Minister and the Left.

At her second rally in Malda, Sonia said: “The state government will have to keep the prices of vegetables under control and ensure smooth running of the public distribution system. It is the state government’s responsibility to check black marketeering.”

She also renewed focus on a theme that has acquired a sharper edge after the forcible recapture of Nandigram by CPM cadres.

Addressing around 20,000 people at the YMA ground in Behrampore, Sonia said: “There is violence in Bengal politics. Congress workers are being continuously subjected to atrocities. Yeh galat hai, galat hai, galat hai (this is wrong, wrong, wrong). The people are questioning the law-and-order situation here.

“There is no room for violence in a democracy. It is the state government’s duty to maintain law and order.”

Sonia had dwelled upon the same subject when she campaigned in Bengal during the 2006 Assembly polls.

The tone for the campaign for the next general elections, due before May 2009, was set by the Congress president when she said: “We took the support of secular parties to keep the BJP at bay. But that does not mean we can’t go it alone. The Congress wouldn’t sacrifice its ideologies and policies.”

Once again unsheathing the now-familiar three-in-a-row assertions, she added: “We don’t want to clash with anybody. But if someone wants a confrontation, Congress party ko sangharsh karne ka pura haque hai, haque hai, haque hai (the Congress, too, has every right to struggle).”

Sonia took a helicopter from Calcutta and landed in Behrampore at 10.25am. She left the Murshidabad district headquarters half an hour later for neighbouring Malda.

The panchayat polls in the state are only a fortnight away and the Congress controls the Murshidabad and Malda zilla parishads.

State Congress leaders had taken pains in the run-up to Sonia’s visit to clarify that she was not coming to campaign for the rural polls, probably because the party did not want to admit that the most powerful political leader in the country was being used for a panchayat election. But foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee told the rally: “Please vote for the Congress to help us retain the zilla parishad.”

The Sachar Committee report on the plight of Muslims has painted a sorry picture of Bengal, Sonia added. “The state government should indulge in self-criticism and immediately take steps for the development of backward people. It is unfortunate that there is too much politics here over development.”

When Sonia spoke, the YMA ground was only about half full. Bengal Congress president Priya Ranjan Das Munshi blamed the sun for the empty stands.

The day, however, was partially cloudy and the maximum temperature around 36 degrees Celsius.

Malda’s Sujapur, where the rally ground can hold around 25,000 people, had a packed house. Sonia broke her security cordon and shook hands with the women after her speech.

Asked to comment on Sonia’s assertion that the Congress was with the people of Nandigram, Mamata Banerjee said in Calcutta: “I want the Congress to decide whether to stand by the distressed people of Nandigram or the Nandan Samrat (meaning Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee).”