Ten years ago, when Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress dethroned the 34-year-old Left government in West Bengal, she had the last laugh by trouncing her arch-rival CPM. Now Didi is facing a resurgent opponent, a friend-turned-foe BJP, threatening to uproot her regime. A contender who did not have much footing in the state in 2011, when the TMC occupied the Writer's Building in Kolkata. The game of the throne seems to have changed in the last decade.

In the first round of the high-pitched battle, 30 out of the 294 assembly seats in West Bengal are going to the polls on March 27. Though, the election at the outset has put the popularity of the TMC to the test after the last drubbing by the BJP in the region in the 2019 general elections.

The tribal-dominated constituencies voting on Saturday are spread across five districts—Purulia, Bankura, Jhargram, West Medinipur, and East Medinipur—of West Bengal. The region was once the left bastion which the TMC breached in the 2011 assembly elections and fortified in 2016 when the party bagged 27 of the 30 seats. But the ground beneath its feet began to crumble before the 2018 panchayat polls when the BJP started to firm up its grip and finally won five of the six Lok Sabha seats in this region in 2019.

With the 'Khela Hobe' battle cry, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has made her intent clear, she even refused to acknowledge the BJP as a challenger to the TMC rule in Bengal. Assured of her third-time victory, she has begun to term this high-stakes battle a 'smiley election'. But resurrecting the old stronghold in the hilly terrain of 'Jangalmahal' may prove very tricky for the TMC, as the BJP also is striving pretty hard to secure its freshly-gained sway in the region.

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Jangalmahal—a British-era district now comprised of four out of the five districts going to the polls in the first phase—was once a hotbed of Maoist activities. The area became a citadel of the Left for its support to the tribal movement of the 1970s but shifted its loyalty to Mamata Banerjee in 2011 after the crackdown on the Lalgarh movement between 2008-2009 under the Left rule.

Ten years later, people in this region continue to stare at extreme poverty, lack of job and food security, now they seem disenchanted with the TMC, accusing it of making hollow promises and abetting corruption—especially the 'cut money' (subscription fee) and 'tolabaji' (extortion) charges have been a headache for Didi.

This region of West Bengal, situated on the rocky land of the Chota Nagpur plateau, is beset by agricultural issues due to water scarcity, which, over the years, has forced the impoverished people to migrate to other states as labourers. They continue to complain about inadequate health and education facilities. Industrialisation of the area is another demand that successive governments have failed to fulfill.

However, with the elections approaching, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee assured the people to set up an industrial park in Raghunathpur if she is voted back to power. But the BJP has rubbished it as just another poll promise of the TMC government.

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The BJP is confident of repeating the success of the 2018 panchayat elections and the 2019 parliamentary elections in this region. The party has promised development claiming that Bengal needed a 'double engine' government with the BJP in power both in the state and at the Centre.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself pitched for 'asol poriborton' in his rallies in Purulia, Bankura and East Medinipur, launching scathing attacks on the Mamata government for ignoring the growth of the area.

The BJP is also banking on the RSS-backed organisations like Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, Ekal Abhiyan and Rashtriya Sewa Bharati which are active in the tribal and rural areas for many decades.

Notably, the tribal voters with their sizeable numbers can impact a majority of assembly seats where the polling is being held in the first phase. To influence the tribals in the favour of Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of Jharkhand Hemant Soren also jumped into the ring and campaigned in the area, even though she had refused to tie up with the JMM (Jharkhand Mukti Morcha) in West Bengal.

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Didi also pins her hopes on the TMC government's welfare schemes like 'Duare Sarkar', 'Kanyashree', and 'Sabujsathi', which she has been highlighting in the election rallies to counter the BJP offensive. Though, in response to her vote appeal, PM Modi in his Kanthi rally in the East Medinipur district asserted that the 'Duare Sarkar' (government at doorstep) claim would not save her from impending defeat.

Curiously enough, in the last two years, the BJP has made inroads in these five districts of West Bengal steering clear of the core Hindutva agenda to avoid any tribal backlash on the issue of the Sarna Code. While the majority of tribal groups across the region (including in parts of Jharkhand) have been demanding to recognise Sarna as a separate religion. The followers of Sarna are votaries of nature whose customs are distinct from Hinduism.

In the first round of elections, the fight in key constituencies like Purulia, Baghmundi, Kharagpur, Medinipur, Khejuri, Kanthi North, Kanthi South will be interesting to watch. Interestingly, in the last assembly polls, Congress had bagged two of these key constituencies: Purulia and Baghmundi. This time, the Congress MLA from the Purulia seat Sudhir Mukherjee is contesting on the BJP ticket while the TMC has fielded Sujoy Banerjee. From Baghmundi, the BJP's ally AJSU (All Jharkhand Students Union) candidate Ashutosh Mahato is fighting against Sushanta Mahato of the TMC, while the Congress has fielded two-time winner Nepal Chandra Mahato.

—Om Tiwari is a Delhi-based journalist and columnist. The views expressed are personal

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(Edited by : Ajay Vaishnav)