Call it discipline or a poll debutant’s enthusiasm, Sharadwat Mukhopadhyay was among the first to reach the gate of Karunamoyee Housing Complex from where a rally in his support was supposed to start at 7am. The 56-year-old oncologist from AD Block has been fielded from Bidhannagar and is miles away from discussions on chemotherapy and radiation as he trudges up the lanes of the constituency with a single plea: “Ekbar BJP ke sujog din”. A chat with him in his BMW before the rally started.
Q. Your patients must be missing you!
I have taken leave from hospital (Manipal Hospital Broadway). Du noukoy pa diye toh chola jaay na.
Q. Tell us about your medical background.
I am a 1992 MBBS passout from Calcutta Medical College. I was president of the students’ union there and have since served on several doctor’s bodies. In 2001, I became a BJP member and joined Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in 2015. I became the convenor of the party’s doctors’ cell in 2022.
BIDHANNAGAR A.C. VOTE SHARE: SHIFT DOWN THE YEARS
Q. When did you come to Salt Lake?
My father started building the house in AD Block in 1978. We moved in in 1988. I was in Medical College then. I passed MD in 1998.
Q. Did you expect to contest an election?
The call came as a surprise. But I thought it my responsibility to respond. Is it enough to sit in the drawing room and protest, especially after what happened to Abhaya? One has to be in the system to change the system.
Q. Several doctors are in the fray this time.
Our party has fielded Dr Indranil Khan and Dr Arup Das too. Indranil is a young man, who is our yuva morcha president.
Q. What is your reading of the situation in Bidhannagar? The vibe is excellent. There is an undercurrent in our favour. How much that will be reflected in the EVM no one can say.
Q. What is your reading of the situation in Bidhannagar?
The vibe is excellent. There is an undercurrent in our favour. How much that will be reflected in the EVM no one can say.
Sharadwat Mukhopadhyay campaigns in IA Market with a fish
Q. Will the SIR not be countereffective for your prospects?
As far as I recall, SIR has not had much of an effect in Bidhannagar. Electoral lists should be thoroughly revised every five-six years. In our state, rigging has reached industrial standards, right from the Left Front era. Ministers boast they will ‘do’ the vote, the electorate does not matter. The tradition continues in this regime. If you see last time’s results, there are lots of seats decided by a margin of less than 5,000 votes. There was not much difference in vote share between Trinamul and BJP (48 per cent and 38.2 per cent respectively in Assembly election 2021 which reduced to 45.8 per cent and 38.7 per cent in Lok Sabha 2024). The margin in Bidhannagar was 7,997 votes.
Q. You focused more on the added areas towards the start of your campaign?
They have been neglected for long. They were the original inhabitants of Salt Lake. Water-logging is a seasonal headache. Drinking water does not reach. Where did the money from the Pradhan Mantri Jal Jeevan Mission go? Selling treated water is a thriving business in Sukantanagar. If there is a fire in the added areas, no vehicle other than two-wheelers can go into those bylanes.
Q. Slums come up that way. What is your solution?
There should be fire hydrants, with water sources at gaps of 50m to 100m. Even if engines can’t reach, fire ducts — pressure pumps — are kept ready in developed countries to be used in emergencies. India has progressed so much, being the fourth largest economy (slipped to sixth spot now due to the fall of rupee against the dollar over the last one year), and we should emulate such practices. The added areas are lingering in the Stone Ages.
Q. Are you harping on fire safety as your rival candidate is the fire services minister?
Of course. Do you remember recent incidents like at Anandapur warehouse (an unauthorised structure belonging to a private food chain) where so many people died? Two countries went to war after less number of people died in Pahalgam. Here nothing much happened. A Mechhua market hotel caught fire and 14 people died. Rooftop restaurants were shut down for months. Where are the fire safety checks?
Q. What are the local issues you re raising in Salt Lake proper?
The state of the roads is one. So many spas and massage parlours are mushrooming in Salt Lake. I find it shady. No one knows what goes on in there. There is a mosque on an occupied government plot near EE Block, on khalpaar. I have nothing against mosques. Seek government permission, see if local people allow it and legalise it.
Q. Is your stand the same against temples that have come up on footpaths and dividers in Salt Lake?
We have no objection to illegal structures of any kind being demolished. But let them demolish the mosque first. Dom thake toh dekhak.
Q. You went around campaigning with a fish in a Salt Lake market.
That was from IA Market – a 2kg katla. That was to counter Mamata Banerjee’s claim that fish and meat will be banned if BJP comes to power. We are in power for close to 10 years in Tripura, a state which has the second highest concentration of Bengalis. Has anything like that happened there?
Q. Non-vegetarian food has just been banned in Haridwar.
Haridwar is a different case. Do they allow pork in Mecca and Madinah? They don’t. It may hurt the sentiments of people. That’s a prerogative of the local region. One has to keep the customs and traditions of a spot in mind, like the neighbourhood of temples.
Q. What is your take on dole politics? Your party is promising double the Lakshmir Bhandar amount.
That’s Annapurna Bhandar. Doles are emergency funding for people below the poverty line to tide over a crisis. It will not help in the long run. Infrastructure development is needed, which has not happened in Bengal. There is no industry. If we open 10 factories here, no one will be interested in doles. We are the only answer for Indians. Trinamul is a regional party.
Q. Is this election a direct fight with Trinamul or a triangular fight?
Aar ke achhe? I don’t see the third point of the triangle. There are only two dots. Congress is finished, Left has been rejected. Trinamul is removing my banners within hours. They have so much work — putting up their own flags and banners, putting up CPM’s flags and banners and removing BJP’s publicity material!
What change do you want your candidate to bring in Bidhannagar? Write to saltlake@abp.in
