Ahead of polls, Abhishek throws down gauntlet to Suvendu with health camp push in Nandigram

Nandigram, Jan 15 (PTI) With the assembly polls barely three months away, TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee on Thursday upped the political stakes in Nandigram, announcing that 'Sebashray' health camps would be organised in the constituency every year and throwing a direct challenge to BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari on his home turf.

The camps, scheduled to run till January 30, are smaller than the expansive Sebashray operations in Banerjee's Diamond Harbour parliamentary constituency but remain cost-intensive.

"Sebashray will be held in Nandigram every year. Not just next year, every year. This time there are two model camps. In the future, all 17 regions will be covered. If anyone has the power, let them try and stop it," Banerjee said after touring the camps across the two blocks of the constituency held by Adhikari.

Political observers feel the declaration was less about healthcare and more about reclaiming political ground in a seat that has come to define Bengal's electoral narratives -- from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's rise to power to her most personal electoral setback.

Few Assembly seats in West Bengal carry the layered political significance of Nandigram.

The 2007 land movement here transformed Mamata Banerjee from a combative opposition leader into a mass icon, eventually ending the Left Front's 34-year rule.

Fourteen years later, the same seat produced a political irony when she lost to her former lieutenant Suvendu Adhikari in the 2021 Assembly elections.

As campaigning gathers momentum for the 2026 polls, the TMC's renewed focus on Nandigram signals an attempt to reframe the optics of a constituency that the BJP projects as evidence of its ideological penetration into Bengal.

Abhishek Banerjee's remarks were aimed squarely at the Leader of the Opposition, with little effort to separate him from the BJP's broader organisational presence in the area, once considered as TMC's stronghold.

In a pointed jibe, Banerjee, the TMC national general secretary, even suggested that members of Adhikari's family might one day have to avail themselves of Sebashray services.

Rejecting allegations that the camps were politically timed, Banerjee said the initiative followed repeated requests from residents through the party's 'Ek Daake Abhishek' helpline.

"If this were political, we would have organised camps in all 77 seats we lost. People from Nandigram approached us, and we responded," he said, adding that if the TMC were to regain the seat in 2026, similar camps would be organised across all blocks of the constituency.

Adhikari had questioned the source of funds to run the camps, prompting a sharp rebuttal.

"Who is he to ask for accounts? We will submit details to the Income Tax department or any statutory authority if required," Banerjee said, adding that having 'Adhikari' as a surname did not confer special rights.

The BJP leader hit back by dismissing the Sebashray initiative as cosmetic, accusing the TMC of choosing Nandigram merely to distribute "paracetamol and ORS" under heavy police security.

"Nandigram's people are not so cheap that they will cross barricades to take paracetamol," he said, asserting that residents knew who stood by them throughout the year.

Listing central funds and projects sanctioned for the constituency, Adhikari positioned himself as a consistent performer rather than a campaign-season visitor.

In a remark steeped in political irony, he said that without Nandigram, Mamata Banerjee would never have made the journey to Bengal's seat of power, a reminder of how the same ground has shaped both leaders' political trajectories.

Beyond the clash with the Opposition, the Sebashray programme also appeared aimed at healing TMC's internal rifts in Nandigram, where factionalism has weakened the organisation in recent years.

Those faultlines were visible even on Thursday. The camp in Nandigram Block I appeared better coordinated than the one in Block II, reflecting uneven organisational control. Senior leaders were present in strength, but some faced difficulties accessing specific camps, triggering murmurs of internal gatekeeping even during a welfare exercise.

In a move rich with symbolism, the camps were inaugurated by family members of those killed during the Nandigram anti-land acquisition movement in 2007-08, families long believed to be within Adhikari's influence.

Emotions ran high as memories of Mamata Banerjee's role in the agitation resurfaced, though political loyalties appeared mixed and, in some cases, deliberately unstated.

As the election countdown accelerates, Nandigram has once again emerged as a theatre of layered politics, where welfare initiatives double as political messaging and history collides with ambition.

For Abhishek Banerjee, the message was unmistakable: the TMC will not concede Nandigram as a lost cause. Whether Sebashray can blunt Adhikari's personal hold over the constituency and simultaneously stitch together a divided party unit remains an open question. PTI PNT NN