Achievements of Bengal renaissance at stake in this election, says Sanyukta Morcha candidate

A seven feet large prototype of a LPG cylinder, carrying a message about the steep hike in petrol prices, greets you at Iran Society, a posh locality in south Kolkata.

In the backyard, there is a modest hospital which offers dialysis for Rs 50 to the poor. On an average, 30-50 patients, mainly from the marginalised sections of society, get free treatment in the hospital.

The hospital is run by Dr Fuad Halim – a Sanyukta Morcha candidate from Ballygunge Assembly seat – whose mission in life is to bring equality in society. For Dr Halim, who is trained in the communist ideology, politics is a tool to serve the people.

Known for his philanthropy and cool demeanour, Dr Halim belongs to the rare breed of politicians who reads a lot. His study showcases his diverse reading interests, with books on Ghalib to Mahabharat to Valmiki Ramayan to EL James whose Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy had created a flutter a few years ago.

Dr Halim, who had fought the last elections on a CPM ticket and lost, expressed grave concern at the way the ongoing Assembly polls were being communalised by the BJP.

“The outcome of this election will not be confined to politics but will have a far reaching impact on West Bengal’s socio-political milieu,” he said.

“The achievements of Bengal renaissance are at stake in this election. The RSS-BJP combine is on hand trying to undermine the renaissance, and on the other it is propagating a doctored, polluted version…They try to appropriate Sawmi Vivekanand and Subhas Bose, but they do not follow their teachings,” he added.

“Actually, they cannot, as the achievements of Bengal renaissance are essentially against their understanding of Indian history and Bengali culture,” he said.

Dr Halim, who prefers door to door campaigning, raises issues such as unemployment, basic health facilities and price hike of essential commodities during his campaign. Due to Covid, he has been forced to suspend door to door campaigning for the time being. Nevertheless, he keeps questioning the BJP as well as the TMC government in West Bengal in his rallies.

“Both the Mamata Banerjee government and the BJP should give their report card…Over seven and a half lakh posts are lying vacant in the Health Department. When will they be filled? Mamata government should tell us,” he said.

Contrary to the media portrayal that the fight is between TMC and the BJP, Dr Halim thinks that the fight is triangular in West Bengal and that the vote share of Sanyukta Morcha will increase in this election. “We had entered into alliance with the Congress in 2016 and this is getting stronger,” he said.

“Both parties had managed to transfer their votes to each other in the last Assembly election, and will do so in this election too,” he added.

Asked about the reasons behind the decline of the Left in West Bengal, Dr Halim said the Left should have taken the people into confidence while implementing developmental projects (in Singur, Nandigram etc).

“In the next few year when this storm dies down, the real fight will be between RSS-BJP led fascist forces and Left-Congress led secular, renaissance forces…TMC would be dissolved as an institution as it does not have an organization and it is based on a personality cult,” he predicted.