Surjya Kanta Mishra at a rally in Narayangarh. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

Ten years ago, when Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee cast aside Mamata Banerjee’s “ebaar noy never (now or never)” challenge with the promise of an “unnatotaro (improved)” Left Front, he had backed Surjya Kanta Mishra, a doctor, to upgrade the health services.

Today, as Mamata throws the gauntlet at the Left, she is banking on another Surya Kant to pull off an upset from Narayangarh in West Midnapore, which votes on May 7.

Their name is the only thing the two candidates have in common.

Mishra is a poll veteran and a senior minister. He handles an important department like health (and also took care of the panchayat department till being replaced), oversees party work, and often stands proxy for the chief minister at key meetings in New Delhi.

“There is a wave for change. The change will be from the 7th Left Front government to the 8th Left Front government,” Mishra tells CPM workers assembled at a road show in Narayangarh.

Patients share beds at the Belda block hospital in health minister Mishra’s constituency. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

His opponent Surya Kant Atta, 45, is fighting his maiden Assembly election. Atta has risen from student politics and has been with the Trinamul Congress since its birth 13 years ago.

He was so confident about getting his first nomination for the Assembly polls that he began his wall-writing campaign even before the candidate list was announced. The confidence seemed to be belied when Trinamul nominated Kausar Ali from the constituency, but Ali was dropped after angry protests by local party workers.

Unlike Dinhata, where sitting MLA Ashok Mandal rebelled after being dropped as a candidate, Narayangarh hasn’t seen any revolt. Local Trinamul leaders proudly cite the show of unity during Mamata’s rally at Kunarpur in the constituency, where both Kausar and Atta were present.

A united face, however, may not be enough to topple the incumbent, who has been winning from Narayangarh since 1991 and is backed by his party’s efficient election machinery.

Mishra has always won by more than 30,000 votes except for 2001, when his victory margin was 26,913. In the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, though, the CPM’s lead from the Narayangarh segment was just 16,240.

Yet, amid the change chant across Bengal, backward West Midnapore remains a Left stronghold. Of the district’s 19 Assembly seats, the Left was ahead in 16 in last year’s parliamentary polls.

Atta, though, appears confident about beating his namesake and is campaigning 14 to 16 hours a day.

Trinamul candidate Surya Kant Atta campaigns. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

“We won 19 of the 24 school committee elections, and all the seven co-operatives are with us. These elections were held last year, so there is a definite wave in our favour. Even Left supporters will vote for us this time,” he claims.

The Trinamul campaign in Narayangarh has run along expected lines, hitting out at Mishra’s failure to improve the health services. Mamata has announced that if she comes to power, her government will set up its first speciality hospital in Narayangarh.

“There is no health system in place here. The existing hospitals don’t function. Doctors, nurses, medicine — nothing is available,” says Atta. “We are telling the voters about the incompetence of the sitting MLA. A miracle is going to happen this time.”

Dhiraj Maity, a resident of Konarpur where Mamata came to campaign on May 3, corroborates Atta’s charges.

“The rural health centres at Kalankai and Radhanagar are almost non-functional. We have to go to Calcutta, or to Bhadrak or Cuttack in Orissa,” Maity says.

Mishra, who did his MBBS from Cuttack, is unfazed by the criticism. “I don’t need to reply; the people will give the answer. The Assembly polls are not meant for electing the health minister,” he says sarcastically before boarding a mini-truck for a road show at Narayangarh.

Young boys in knee-length dhotis and faded vests walk on stilts at his rally. Men and women, young and old, hold up red flags.

Mishra may not want to answer the Opposition’s charges but local CPM leaders in Narayangarh are eager to.

“Can you see that?” asks Madan Bose, a former CPM panchayat samiti sabhapati from Narayangarh, pointing to a yellow brick structure across the road at Narayangarh’s Kasba locality. The building serves as an upaswasthya kendra (sub-health centre).

“Upaswasthya kendras have been developed for a population of 5,000. The target was 55 such kendras but we have been able to build 37. The Belda block hospital has been upgraded at a cost of more than Rs 4 crore,” says Bose.

The fresh coat of paint still gleams on the Belda hospital’s walls but the patients are still forced to share beds in its shabby wards in crumbling buildings. “Doctors couldn’t be appointed since the election code of conduct is in force. The hospital is ready with surgical facilities, something that we lacked all these years,” a senior health department official said.

Mishra admits that finding doctors is a problem. The Trinamul chief has promised to appoint local doctors and nurses if voted to power.

“We have empowered the districts to appoint doctors. Campus interviews are taking place. We do need more doctors,” says Mishra.

While Atta has been criss-crossing the constituency, Mishra has given barely five days to Narayangarh, addressing meetings and participating in road shows. The rest of the time he has been busy campaigning elsewhere in the state.

“I don’t contest the polls; the people fight the polls for me. Things will become clear on May 13,” Mishra says with a rare smile.

In 1977, the last time Bengal had witnessed political change, Mishra had lost to his Congress opponent. Thirty-four years later, when the tide seems to have turned against the Left, he is confident of keeping the winds of change away from Narayangarh.

Trinamul is banking on padayatras, big and small meetings, and its door-to-door campaign.

“We are weak in 87 booths but we carried out an extensive door-to-door campaign. The response has been tremendous,” a Trinamul leader said.

Atta’s biggest challenge will be turning this “response” into votes in the face of the organisational might of the CPM, which is on a much firmer wicket in this part of the state.