In Malda, it’s still all about Ghani Khan

Similarly, Mausam Benazir Noor rattles off a string of development programmes that she has undertaken for Malda — building the Mahananda embankment, roads under the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana, widening of national highways, arranging drinking water — but not before talking about how her uncle Ghani Khan got NTPC to set up a power plant here and got Malda its model railway station.

“What’s wrong in flaunting the work that my brother has done? Who can deny that? But we have carried forward his work and we are sure we will win,’’ says Abu Hasem, sitting at his ancestral house in Kotwali.

Mausam, who is president of the West Bengal Youth Congress, too sees nothing wrong in invoking her late uncle’s legacy. “Nobody can deny what he has done for Malda. But we are not sitting back. We are also talking about what we have done,’’ says Mausam as she leaves the family home for her roadshow at Bhabuk in old Malda.

But her Trinamool Congress rival, singer Saumitra Roy, says the Ghani magic won’t work any longer in Malda. “You can not live off your legacy. Both the uncle and niece have lost touch with the people. I have come here to talk about the future, not cling on to the past,’’ says Roy.

Though both Hasem Khan and Mausam admit that they see a “Modi buzz” in Malda, they claim that the BJP won’t make inroads into the Muslim-dominated district.

Muslims form 38 per cent of the 14.22 lakh voters in Malda North while Malda South has 62 per cent Muslim voters. “Muslims will never vote for the BJP. They are traditional Congress voters,” said an aide of Mausam.

In the 2009 elections, for which the Congress and Trinamool Congress were in an alliance, Mausam got 4,40,264 votes in Malda North while the CPM’s Sailen Sarkar got 3,80,123 votes. The BJP’s Amlan Bhaduri came third. In Malda South too, the BJP came third. This time, with the Congress and the Trinamool fighting separately, the BJP hopes to put up a tough fight.