Fear, polarisation cost us 2021: Cong MP Isha Khan Choudhury on Bengal battle

In an exclusive interview with National Herald just before the silent period for the second phase of West Bengal's Assembly elections kicked in, Congress MP Isha Khan Choudhury, the party’s sole representative from the state, opened up about the challenges facing Bengal politics. Campaigning for Congress candidate Ranajit Mukherjee in Bidhannagar, he pointed to fear and religious polarisation as key reasons behind the party’s defeat in 2021.

"We were wiped out in 2021 due to fear and religious polarisation caused by the NRC," Choudhury said. He accused the BJP of fearmongering among minority communities by threatening to drive them out, while the TMC amplified this by claiming they alone could protect people if voted to power. "Real issues like huge unemployment problems and Ganga erosion in many parts of the state have been completely ignored by both TMC and the BJP at the Centre," he added.

Choudhury highlighted migration as a top voter concern. "People are voting on how Bengalis have to go in droves to other places in search of jobs," he noted. He drew parallels with the current Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, saying both the TMC and BJP have once again instilled fear, diverting attention from core issues like "roti, kapda, makaan (food, clothing, shelter). SIR has brought polarisation to the forefront again, though I believe people of Bengal will overcome this binary in 2026", he said confidently.

While acknowledging that SIR might give some edge to the BJP, Choudhury stressed Congress’s stance. "We are not against SIR, but we oppose the failed process that reached the Supreme Court, where it heavily criticised the Election Commission."

He called the deletion of 28 lakh genuine names "an absolute failure in democracy", blaming the misuse of AI in the process — unlike other states where minor spelling errors did not lead to exclusions. "BJP blames TMC for not providing data entry operators, and TMC calls it a BJP conspiracy. Whether BJP did this intentionally for electoral gain will be clear after the results. This was an unfair vote since lakhs of people could not cast their ballot. The Supreme Court should have taken more time to handle it."

On Congress’s independent run after 20 years, Choudhury described it as a "recovery stage". "It was necessary for us to come out of our shell and make our own identity in Bengal. We stand for development and unity across all strata of society." He also expressed optimism, saying, "I don't want to limit ourselves to a number of seats because we might go beyond that. People will see beyond the SIR fear factor, just like they did in my own election despite NRC fears."

Choudhury criticised the BJP for overestimating its polarisation gains and the TMC for attacking secular parties like Congress. "TMC has arrested thousands of our workers and forcibly taken control of our gram panchayats, zila parishads, and municipal bodies by filing cases."

He positioned Congress as the "true secular party" filling a void in Bengal, echoing Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s calls from recent rallies to rebuild as a viable alternative. On post-poll alliances, he deferred: "As a secular party, I cannot say if there can be any. That decision rests with the central leadership."