Dammed: Didi blue ...Jharkhand BJP objects to colours

The dam after the painting was stopped. (Dwijodas Ghosh)

Snehamoy Chakraborty, TT, Aug 04, 2018 Suri: Nearly three decades after Lalu Prasad and L.K. Advani made Massanjore a milestone in the battle between secularism and saffron, another tussle has unfolded, tinged this time with blue and white.

The Bengal government's attempt to paint a dam it owns in Jharkhand in Mamata Banerjee's favourite colours has hit a BJP wall.

BJP workers on Wednesday stopped the Bengal irrigation department from repainting the Massanjore Dam on the Mayurakshi in Dumka, saying they would not allow Trinamul's colours in Jharkhand.

The dam, which mainly benefits farmers in Bengal, has been owned and maintained by Bengal since it was commissioned in 1955, and all its staff are Bengal government employees.

Bengal irrigation department sources said the state had allotted Rs 1.85 crore to beautify the dam and neighbouring structures, including its guesthouse. On the other side is another guesthouse - one that made headlines across the country in 1990 when then Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad dared to arrest Advani, leading a rath yatra to Ayodhya.

Advani was arrested in Samastipur and then lodged in Massanjore which was then in Bihar. The BJP leader was forced to cut short the yatra, whose ripples two years down the line would culminate in the demolition of the Babri Masjid.

Advani's truncated yatra did energise legions of would-be kar sevaks but the firm action taken by Lalu Prasad remains a stellar example of what those elected to govern must do when faced with hard decisions.

The current episode involving the Bengal beautification work, which began 10 days ago, has no link to matters as grave as the rath yatra but mirrors the battle unfolding in the political arena.

"After a third of the dam had been painted, a group of local BJP politicians and workers came and asked our staff to stop," said Kingshuk Mondal, executive engineer at the dam.

"We told them the property was Bengal's and we looked after its maintenance. We asked them to give us their demand in writing while letting us continue our work, but they threatened an agitation."

The Bengal government has stopped painting the dam's walls, two-thirds of which now show just a coat of whitewash.

Dumka BJP president Nivas Mandal told The Telegraph he had gone to the site two days ago with his team after receiving complaints that the dam was being painted white and blue -colours seen on many government buildings in Bengal.

"How could we allow them to paint our pride (the dam) with their political colour? We got it stopped," Mandal said.

He said he had deputed his people on the site, asking them to keep him updated if anything of that sort happened again.

"We won't allow any colours preferred by Mamata Banerjee anywhere in Jharkhand. We have told the Bengal officials they must repaint the dam in its original off-white, with a red border."

A welcome gate at the entry point to the dam earlier said: "Welcome to Massanjore Dam, Government of West Bengal". The BJP workers have rubbed out "Bengal" and written "Jharkhand" over it.

Mandal said: "We didn't engage in any violence. We simply complained formally to the Bengal water resource department's assistant engineer, Shyama Prasad Rai, who was in charge at the site, that this dam had always been painted white with red borders."

He added: "We may have a water-sharing contract with Bengal for this dam, but not one about sharing colours."

Bengal irrigation officials said Nabanna had been informed and that the staff at Massanjore had lodged a police complaint locally, though they were yet to receive a signed copy.

Massanjore is 44km from Suri and 22km from the Birbhum border. It's the Bengal irrigation department's branch in Birbhum that maintains the dam.

Birbhum district magistrate Moumita Godara Basu said: "We have been informed about the Massanjore incident and are looking into the matter."

District Trinamul chief Anubrata Mondal said: "The BJP is playing dirty politics in Massanjore because it is afraid of our chief minister. However, it's a government matter and the government will take it up."

Dumka superintendent of police Kishore Kaushal said: "I'm not aware of any protests by the BJP or other parties at the dam."

"The Massanjore Dam was set up with a memorandum of understanding with the then government of (undivided) Bihar. It serves 206,624 hectares across three Bengal districts ---- Birbhum, Murshidabad and East Burdwan --- and 12,140 hectares in Jharkhand," a Bengal irrigation official said.

Massanjore is a tourist spot and attracts thousands from Bengal and neighbouring states every year.

Additional reporting by our Jharkhand Bureau