Swapan Dasgupta calls Rashbehari ‘doorstep seat’
KOLKATA: Swapan Dasgupta, the BJP candidate contesting from the Rashbehari Assembly seat, is conducting a door-to-door campaign in his locality.
He claimed that people want a change in political leadership and believes that such a shift is likely to take place in Bengal this time.
A scholar from Nuffield College, Oxford, a columnist and an ideologue of Hindutva nationalism, Dasgupta admits that his overtly urban persona makes him a “greater fit” in Rashbehari—a constituency that houses his residence and those of his extended family.
The former BJP Rajya Sabha member unsuccessfully contested from the rural Tarakeswar seat in the 2021 Assembly elections, where he lost by a slender margin of a little over 7,000 votes to his nearest TMC rival. “Rashbehari, for me, is a doorstep Constituency. It’s a seat whose boundaries keep changing, but my entire family is based here. It has a diverse mix, being home to some of Kolkata’s richest people as well as some of the city’s poorest,” Dasgupta said.
“The iconic Kali temple at Kalighat is located here. But what makes this seat crucial in terms of electoral prestige is that it borders Bhowanipore, TMC chief Mamata Banerjee’s own segment, where she will be challenged by our leader Suvendu Adhikari this time,” he added. A TMC stronghold since 1998, the Rashbehari seat, according to Dasgupta, is a “greatly challenging proposition,” where he expects to face fierce resistance from his primary opponent.
“But times may have changed in terms of the BJP’s poll prospects here,” he claimed. “We are not making tall claims, but I believe we will be able to capitalise on the overall disgust among people and reverse the stagnation and decline of Bengal brought about by the past 15 years of TMC rule,” he said.
“In 2021, despite putting our best foot forward and bringing our top energies into the contest, there were certain lacunae in our approach. The party was still evolving. I think we have now reached a critical point where we can take on greater responsibilities and emerge as TMC’s true alternative. We are now a government in waiting,” he added.
Dasgupta said his academic background has helped him better understand people and reach out to them with humility, acknowledging differing viewpoints. “One can run a local club and exclude people from its domain. But the charm of electoral politics lies in its inclusive nature, where you bring everyone in to support you and be part of a larger process. I can help build that as long as I remain open-minded towards multiple problems and try to address them with sincerity,” he said.
