Signal in Kanu Sanyal stroke - BJP picks Naxalite leader’s panchayat for central plan

Bireswar Banerjee, TT, Naxalbari, Nov. 21: S.S. Ahluwalia, the BJP Darjeeling MP, today adopted under a central village scheme the Hatighisa gram panchayat under which falls Naxalite leader Kanu Sanyal’s residence.

The Sansad Adarash Gram Yojana (SAGY) seeks to make ideal villages of panchayats chosen by an MP who would pledge to work for the improvement of sanitation, housing, health facilities, education and human resource development.

The idea behind the plan announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 11 may have made Kanu Sanyal happy, though the founding member of the CPI (Marxist-Leninist) had chosen the path of revolution to meet the stated objective of bringing social equality.

Ahluwalia today visited the Sebdellajote village home of Sanyal where the 80-year-old Naxalite leader had committed suicide on March 23, 2010.

A Congress leader in Naxalbari today said the BJP had made a masterstroke by adopting this gram panchayat in Naxalbari, seen as the birthplace of the Naxalite movement, as Sanyal is still a respected figure in the area.

Also the panchayat, which has 30 villages under it, is in the plains, not the hills where Ahluwalia already has the support of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha.

“Kanu Sanyal still lives in the minds of people dwelling in the Siliguri subdivision, particularly poor people of different communities in rural areas that fall under the Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad. Choosing the Hatighisa panchayat for the central scheme would benefit the BJP, particularly after the MP’s visit to his home today,” the Congress leader said.

“Even among apolitical voters, Kanu Sanyal’s reputation is of a leader who worked for the poor. If the BJP MP succeeds in changing the socio-economic scenario of Hatighisa, it would be a great achievement for the party,” the Congress leader added.

“It is evident that the BJP is eyeing at the rural polls in the Siliguri subdivision just like the SMC polls.”

The dates of neither election has been announced. The terms of both, the Siliguri Municipal Corporation and the Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad, have lapsed.

At a rally in Siliguri on November 19, Trinamul Youth Congress chief Abhishek Banerjee had said that the BJP MP had done nothing in the plains.

Asked if he had chosen the panchayat keeping an eye on the Siliguri rural polls, Ahluwalia said: “We are not here to get any political mileage but to implement a scheme launched by our Prime Minister.”

The Hatighisa gram panchayat in Naxalbari block is 25km from Siliguri.

“In April this year, when the then Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi was delivering his speech at a public meeting in Matigara under my constituency, he had specifically mentioned the backwardness of Naxalbari, which is known for the seat of a revolutionary movement, aimed for socio-economic development of the poor and downtrodden,” Ahluwalia said, during his visit to Sanyal’s home today.

“Even today, out of 4,000-odd houses of Hatighisa, 3,000 lack toilets. There are only 137 hand pumps in the 30 villages,” he said.

The MP said he had first heard about Sanyal when he was a student.

“We are not going into the political issue of whether his path was right or wrong but we can’t deny his intention of working for the poor. I have heard about him during my student life and can easily relate to his lifestyle with what I saw at the hutment today where he stayed for years,” Ahluwalia said.

“All these prompted me to choose Hatighisa as the area for scheme,” the MP said.

Shanti Munda, the caretaker of the house of veteran Naxalite and one of his close associates, also spoke to the MP as he visited the one-room house of Sanyal.

“I was just a 13-year-old girl when I came in Sebdellajote and since then, I was with Kanubabu till his last day. During these years, I have heard so many promises uttered by ministers and leaders who visited the village. But till date, nothing much has changed. If the MP’s visit improves the area, we would appreciate it,” Munda, who is over 80, said.

Dipu Haldar, who took charge as general secretary of CPI (ML), after Sanyal’s death, also spoke of the backwardness of the area. “Kanubabu fought for people throughout his life and yet, we could get drinking water in Sebdellajote only six months back. Before that, majority of people had to bank on the water of a stream skirting the village,” Haldar said.