TMC eyes Rajbanshi support in bid to deepen North Bengal footprint

During her recent visit to Cooch Behar district, Banerjee announced a slew of projects for the community, which represents a major votebank in North Bengal. Unleashing a charm offensive on the Ananta faction of Rajbanshis, the CM announced that her government is in the process of raising a ‘Narayani Battalion’ in which priority would be given to youths from ‘Ananta-Bahini’ (a security force loyal to self-styled Koch-Rajbanshi leader Ananta Rai).

The Koch-Rajbanshis trace their lineage to the medieval-era Kamta kingdom, which is spread across present-day northeast, including Assam and West Bengal, and even parts of Bangladesh and other neighbouring countries. The Koch-Rajbanshis are currently scattered across Assam, Meghalaya, West Bengal, Bihar, Bangladesh, Nepal and some parts of Bhutan.

The Rajbanshis are estimated to be over 33 lakh in West Bengal and mostly reside in North Bengal districts. The community accounts for 30 per cent of the electorate in North Bengal and is seen as the deciding factor in at least 15 of the 294 Assembly seats in West Bengal.

The Rajbanshis majorly stood with the Left Front during its 34-year rule of the state. However, in the 2011 Assembly polls, the community flipped in favour of the Trinamool Congress helping it put an end to the Left Front reign.

Then again, in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) managed to win eight of the 9 Lok Sabha seats in North Bengal, riding on Rajbanshi support.

In 2012, the then Trinamool Congress government had set up the Cooch Behar Panchanan Barma University, named after the 19th-century Rajbangshi leader and reformist. His birthday on February 14 is now a holiday across Cooch Behar district.

Ahead of the Assembly polls last year, the chief minister had announced plans for raising TMC three new police battalions, including the ‘Narayani Battalion’ of Cooch Behar, which had been a long-standing demand of the Rajbanshis.

Not to be outdone in the race to keep this politically relevant community on its side, the BJP government at the Centre recently named Dharma Narayan Barma, a retired Rajbanshi teacher, as one of the recipients of the Padma Shri.

The support of Ananta Rai, the self-styled community leader who is called ‘Maharaj’ by his supporters, has been yielding rich political dividends for the BJP in North Bengal where the party won 30 out of the 54 Assembly seats last year.

During her recent visit to North Bengal, Banerjee, for the first time, attended an event hosted by the Ananta faction of the Greater Cooch Behar People’s Army (GCPA). The other faction, headed by Bangshibadan Barman, has been with the Trinamool for years.

Aware that a change in the community’s political preference would depend on meeting the demands linked to the Rajbanshi identity, Mamata said, “Let me announce that the state government will spend Rs 18 lakh to install a 15-ft statue of Chila Roy. Also, landscaping will be carried out in the adjoining area.”

A local TMC leader said, “Making inroads in the Rajbanshi-dominated areas would help us in the municipal polls as we had failed to gain the support of the community even during our landslide win in the Assembly elections. Earlier, most of the Rajbanshis were with the Left Front but later, their support shifted to the BJP. Though the Banshibadan faction is with the Trinamool, it couldn’t bring us much dividend in the Assembly polls. However, the CM’s announcement this time of inducting the ‘Ananta-Bahini’ into the ‘Narayani Battellion’ will help us win the community over.”

However, BJP state chief Sukanta Majumdar, who hails from North Bengal, claimed that their vote bank would be intact even after Banerjee’s Rajbanshi outreach. He said, “The Rajbanshis have an identity crisis and Mamata Banerjee tried to capitalise on that. But it will not work. The Rajbanshis haven’t forgotten the violence after the 2021 Assembly election, which was unleashed by a particular community in Cooch Behar. They had to flee to Assam for shelter. They know that the violence was orchestrated with the active indulgence of the chief minister.”