Between civic decay & gangwars, Kasba headed for TMC-Left spar
Kolkata: “If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face.” George Orwell’s chilling line from 1984 finds an unsettling echo in Kasba, where voters seem caught between a rock and a hard place, as power, fear and neglect press down on everyday life.
A relatively new Assembly Constituency carved out in 2011, Kasba comprises Kolkata Municipal Corporation wards 66, 67, 91, 92, 107 and 108. Despite its urban tag, its social fabric is stitched together by tannery workers from Tiljala and Tangra, daily wage earners, and domestic help who cross over to Ballygunge’s more affluent homes. It is a place of sharp contrasts—gleaming apartment blocks rising beside crumbling lanes where civic services struggle to keep pace.
The constituency also bears traces of an older industrial past: Tangra’s Chinese settlers, fewer in number now after the tanneries shifted to Bantala, have largely turned to the restaurant trade, keeping alive a distinct cultural imprint.
The contest this time is shaping into a direct duel between the Trinamool Congress and the Left. TMC’s sitting MLA and state Disaster Management minister Javed Khan has held the seat in an iron grip since its inception, but may be headed for a political disaster if the mood on the ground is any indication. Sensing an opening, the Left has fielded Dipu Das, a former councillor of ward 67 from 2005 to 2015, who is now reaching into the nooks and corners of the constituency on the strength of her local connect. The BJP’s Sandeep Banerjee remains a peripheral player in a seat with a sizeable Muslim electorate, while the Congress has nominated Md. Hasim Zeshan Ahmad.
Yet, beneath the electoral contest lies a deeper unease. Waterlogging, strewn garbage and broken roads have made life difficult, particularly for those in the slum pockets. But in Kasba, the filth does not remain confined to the streets. The grime from its underbelly has begun spilling onto the surface. Rival gangs, often operating under political shadows, clash over land tied to real estate, turning neighbourhoods into flashpoints. What lies scattered on the roads finds an echo in what festers beneath. The recent Enforcement Directorate action against local strongman Biswajit Poddar, alias Sona Pappu, has only reinforced that perception.
The numbers from the last Assembly election offer a backdrop to this contest. In 2021, the Trinamool Congress secured 1,21,072 votes (54.39 per cent), while the BJP polled 57,950 votes and the Left-backed candidate received 39,180. Out of a total electorate of 3,06,263, as many as 2,23,032 votes were cast, reflecting a turnout of 72.91 per cent. A new element adds to the uncertainty this time. The Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls has led to the exclusion of around 58,025 voters in Kasba.
