Basirhat: Draped in a pink-and-green sari with a dash of sindoor on her forehead, Rekha Patra walks with folded hands through the cramped lanes of Town Hall Bazaar in Basirhat, North 24 Parganas district. A procession of men follows her, waving BJP flags and chanting, “Era Sandeshkhali’r Agnikanya, eder vote korun (She is a survivor of Sandeshkhali, woman of fire, vote for her)!”
Patra, the first woman to file a complaint in West Bengal’s Sandeshkhali sexual assault firestorm, is the BJP’s candidate from the Basirhat Lok Sabha seat. She faces popular Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and former MP, Haji Nurul Islam. Unfazed by her political inexperience, Patra boldly lays out her agenda: women’s respect and safety.
“I want women to stand up for their dignity. Self-respect can’t be brought from the market. First, we the women of Basirhat, want self-respect. Only when we fight for self-respect will everything else follow,” Patra tells ThePrint as she stops at the Kali temple and bows before the goddess.
Until a few months ago, Patra was like any other mother and wife in Sandeshkhali, an island village in North 24 Parganas district of Bengal’s Sunderbans region. But earlier this year, she and other women, armed with brooms and sticks, captured nationwide attention by leading fierce protests against TMC’s Sheikh Shahjahan, a local Zila Parishad member, and his aides for land-grabbing and sexual exploitation.
This incident has become a flashpoint in the TMC vs BJP battle in the state, with Patra as its latest embodiment. Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself has called her a “Shakti Swaroopa”, a personification of divine feminine strength.
With her husband and three children in tow, Patra has shifted base from Sandeshkhali to Basirhat town some 35 km away, where she stays in accommodation arranged by her party. BJP sources said this was done to facilitate her campaign across all seven assembly segments of the Lok Sabha constituency, which goes to polls on 1 June.
Now, Patra speaks to hundreds of people daily, listening to their problems and promising to improve their lives if elected to Parliament.
“I come from such a poor family where we did not know whether we would have enough to eat the next day,” she reflects.
Patra’s lifestyle has changed since joining the party; she now employs a house help to look after her children. But some old habits persist.
“I wake up at 5 am and prepare breakfast for my children before heading out for the morning campaign,” says Patra, as women clamour around her for a selfie. “If you are a housewife, you will find politics easy.”
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‘Don’t say Jai Shri Ram’
As Patra and her entourage march into the Basirhat fish market to canvas for votes, a few enthusiastic party workers start chanting Jai Shri Ram. They are promptly reprimanded by other workers.
“Jai Shri Ram bol be na (don’t say Jai Shri Ram),” one says sharply. The slogans quickly change to “Rekha Patra ki Jai, Narendra Modi ki Jai, JP Nadda ki Jai.”
This caution reflects Basirhat’s demographic landscape, where Muslims constitute around 54 percent of the population. Since 2009, Basirhat has elected only Muslim representatives, with the current MP being TMC’s Nusrat Jahan, a well-known actor in Bengal. Jahan, who defeated BJP’s Sayantan Basu by around 3.5 lakh votes, faced backlash for her muted reaction to the Sandeshkhali incident and has not been fielded by the party this time.
But even with the Sandeshkhali factor, the constituency presents a tough fight for the BJP.
“We are finding it difficult to make inroads in the Muslim belts,” admits Kunal Brohma, a BJP district committee member.
The party’s campaign focuses on three issues—development, women’s safety, and opposition to Muslim appeasement—that primarily resonate with Hindus angry at the TMC over Sandeskhali and the 2017 Baduria-Basirhat communal riots.
“We are telling Hindus that if you vote for TMC, we are not sure whether you will be able to celebrate Durga puja next time,” says another BJP worker.
But Patra says that she is also trying to make Muslims understand how the TMC is creating rifts between the two communities.
“I tell Muslims that they should know about the motives of TMC. It is trying to divide us for votes but we need to stand united,” she says.
However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statements about Muslims are complicating BJP candidates’ efforts to reach out to the community, especially in TMC strongholds like Basirhat, notes political analyst Suman Bhattacharya.
“In 2019, PM Modi offered a Triple Talaq ban to Muslims, but now his statements are polarised and focus on mangalsutra. If PM Modi is demonising Muslims, how will they vote for BJP?” Bhattacharya asks.
The politics of Hindu-Muslim division and ‘Nari Shakti’ might not work for BJP in this Muslim-dominated constituency.
“Only Hindu women align only to the idea of Nari Shakti, Muslim women are more concerned about their minority status,” Bhattacharya adds. “The demography is titled towards TMC. It will be a herculean task to cross that demographic divide and win the Basirhat seat for the BJP.”
‘It’s not about winnability’
Despite being the Lok Sabha contender, Patra is not the one calling the shots. To her party members, she is a newcomer who can’t make political decisions yet. On the ground, she doesn’t make grand promises, focusing instead on women’s safety and the Sandeshkhali incident.
“This is what she has been instructed to do,” says a party member on her campaign trail.
Sandeshkhali is BJP’s best bet in West Bengal, and the party doesn’t want to risk anything turning against them.
“The district president to spokespersons are training Patra on how to speak, walk and talk to the voters. We are making her understand what to say, what not to say and to keep her emotions at bay,” adds a BJP district committee member.
But even then, the situation has been fraught. Earlier this month, the Sandeshkhali police registered a suo motu case against Patra over protests held in front of the police station. The Calcutta High Court, however, ordered Tuesday that no coercive steps be taken against her until June 14 because of the election.
Psephologist Biswanath Chakraborty notes that nominating Patra seems to be a strategic decision by the BJP central leadership to stir competition in Basirhat rather than to go all-out for a win on the seat.
“Before Patra, there was no atmosphere of competition. It is not the question of winnability. It is the question of creating a hue and cry. BJP has gone beyond its structural approach and has given its ticket to a grassroots protester,” says Chakraborty.
The Sandeshkhali issue is a state-wide rather than a seat-specific plan for the BJP, and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been trying to get matters under control.
At an election meeting in Basirhat Tuesday, Banerjee vowed to visit Sandeshkhali after winning the election, having faced plenty of flak for not doing so earlier.
While she expressed her “sadness” at the plight of the island’s women, she also took a swipe at PM Modi’s endorsement of Patra as Shakti Swaroop.
“The PM calls someone over the phone, holds a tutored conversation, and circulates that on television. But how many people does he actually talk to like this? It is under his tenure that the country saw the maximum crime against women,” Banerjee alleged.
It’s 6 pm and drums play to the tune of ‘Ae Mere Watan Ke Logon’ as Patra steps out of a white Scorpio. Women holding ‘Aomi Modi Porivar’ (We are Modi’s family) signs run towards her. She hugs them and touches the feet of elderly men and women.
“I am yours,” she tells them, having put her three children to bed before stepping out for the campaign.
While out meeting voters, Patra is often confronted with questions about a purported sting operation video, in which a BJP mandal president allegedly claims that party leaders, including MLA Suvendu Adhikari, paid Sandeshkhali villagers to fabricate their charges.
“This is untrue. TMC is lying. They are afraid of losing in Basirhat, so they come up with new ploys every day. But I know that the women will win. The truth shall win,” Patra says vehemently.
Emerging through the roof of an e-rickshaw, she waves at the clamouring crowd. Then she folds her hands and announces: “I am Rekha Patra, Sandeshkhali’r Agnikanya.”
(Edited by Asavari Singh)
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