44 constituencies will go to polls on Saturday - Communal amity key to career, says 18-year-old Tania Das

Party flags along a road in Kasba.: Bishwarup Dutta

Subhajoy Roy   |  TT  |  Calcutta   | 09.04.21: Kasba and Jadavpur are among the 44 constituencies that will go to the polls in the fourth phase of the Assembly elections on Saturday (April 10), the campaigning for which ended at 6.30pm on Thursday.

The key contenders in Jadavpur are Debabrata Majumdar of Trinamul, Sujan Chakraborty of the Sanyukta Morcha and Rinku Naskar of the BJP. In Kasba, the contest is among Javed Khan of Trinamul, Shatarup Ghosh of the Sanyukta Morcha and Indranil Khan of the BJP.

Metro asked voters of the two constituencies about the issues uppermost on their minds.

Communal harmony

Eighteen-year-old Tania Das, a resident of Jadavapur’s Chittaranjan Colony, is in the first year of college. She feels her career is bound to be affected if there is communal strife.

“For me the most important issue in this election is whether we will have communal harmony in our society. If there is a fight between communities, development and jobs will become secondary. A society can progress only if people live in harmony,” Tania said, her mother Shefali nodding in approval.

Schoolteacher Surya Subha Banerjee, a resident of Garia (a part of which falls in the Jadavpur constituency), echoed Tania’s concern. “Never before was there a competition between leaders to prove who is a better Hindu. The BJP is polarising society with the aim to garner Hindu votes. To counter that, Mamata Banerjee is chanting puja mantras at every rally. Where are we heading?” he asked.  

Price rise

Guria Balmiki, 27, and her neighbour Maya Debi, 42, are worried over how to run their households amid rising prices of essential food items and LPG cylinders. Guria’s husband pulls a rickshaw-van for a living, while Maya’s husband runs a tea stall.

“We are poor. We find it very difficult when prices of vegetables and other essential food items rise sharply. The rise in the cooking gas price is particularly difficult for us to deal with,” said Guria, a resident of Jadavpur’s Kamarpara.

Mousumi Bhatta, 43, a resident of Kasba’s Yogendra Gardens, too, said the rise in the LPG price is a major problem they are dealing with. “We use LPG frugally so a cylinder lasts a month,” said Mousumi, who runs a medicine store with her husband.

Beyond freebies

Schoolteacher Banerjee said he was surprised that none of the parties was talking about the infrastructure they would create and the investments they would bring.

“One party is saying they will give Rs 500 to every person every month if they come to power. Another is saying they will give Rs 3,000 every month to a few communities. But do such payments help anyone?” asked Banerjee.

Needed: jobs

Babu Das, a resident of Baghajatin (part of Jadavpur) who has five mouths to feed, said: “I work in a garment store. There are very few job options, so I have to accept whatever I am paid. I could have earned more if there were enough jobs around,” he said. Prabal Ray, a doctor, echoed him: “My daughter works in Mumbai. Beyond a level, there are no jobs in the city.”