A turncoat and a ‘missing’ MP cost BJP two seats in South Bengal
The HinduAmong the losses suffered by the Bharatiya Janata Party in West Bengal in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, two seats stand out — Hooghly and Barrackpore. “The majority of jute belt workers in West Bengal are Hindi speakers and the BJP candidates had a huge impact on them in 2019,” said Anadi Sahu, general secretary of the West Bengal unit of Centre of Indian Trade Unions, the labour arm of the CPI. Mr. Sahu said the BJP and the Trinamool have been apathetic to issues plaguing Bengal’s jute belt which include a shortage of orders, rampant closure of mills, little work for labourers, and mill owners holding back gratuity of the retired workers. Three years later, Mr. Singh returned to the Trinamool amid the price-cap crisis in the jute industry that had led to the closure of around a dozen jute mills in Barrackpore and job losses.