Singur, the site of the Nano car project, is the key Assembly segment of Hooghly parliamentary constituency. And Dutta, who is the zonal committee member of the CPI(M), is the party’s showcase throughout Hooghly. To take on the CPI(M), the Trinamool Congress has roped in Monoranjan Malik and Molina — Tapasi’s parents — who have their hands full these days, narrating their plight and seeking votes for Ratna De Nag.

Tapasi’s body was found in Singur on December 18, 2006, at the height of the Trinamool-CPI(M) clash over the Singur agitation. The CBI arrested Dutta and Debu Malik on June 25, 2007. Dutta and Malik were sentenced to life imprisonment. But the Calcutta High Court granted bail to both on February 12, 2008.

Dutta insists he is innocent. “Our candidate is Rupchandda (Rupchand Pal). I am working for him and for my party. I was framed. There is a conspiracy against the CPM here,” he says.

Hooghly district secretary of the CPI(M), Binod Das, says the party is backing Dutta to send across the message that he is innocent. “We intend to campaign alongside the murder accused, so that we can make people understand that our leader was falsely implicated,” says Das.

The Assembly election from Singur was won by Trinamool candidate Rabindranath Bhattacharjee in 2006.

In last year’s Panchayat elections in May, the CPI(M) lost most of the panchayat samiti and gram panchayat seats in Singur block. In contrast, Mamata Banerjee’s party bagged 15 of the 16 gram panchayat seats and all three zilla parishad seats, routing the CPM here.

CPM party leaders point out that Dutta is being showcased almost everywhere, from public gatherings to party meetings. “He has become a symbol of our victory against the odds. He is a model for our cadres at the grassroots level. Initially, there was a feeling among our cadres that we won’t be able to save him from jail. But now, the same cadres are optimistic about him,” says Rupchand.

Trinamool, meanwhile, has put up posters of the teenager’s corpse across Bengal to keep the memory of the murder alive. Her parents are having a hectic time, delivering speeches at numerous rallies. “I am telling the people how much pain my family had to go through after we lost our girl. Mamata Banerjee is my idol and it is her wish that I campaign for Trinamool candidates. CPM leaders have murdered my daughter,” says Monoranjan.

Trinamool candidate Ratna De Nag says, “Tapasi Malik’s family ixs a symbol of CPI(M)’s atrocities.People will drive out CPI(M) not only from Singur, but from Bengal. They are claiming that Suhrid Dutta is innocent; this move will backfire.”

Meanwhile, in this high-pitched counter-campaigning, the issue of Nano returning to Singur has taken a backseat, as has the matter of compensation for those who gave up their land. Madhab Das, 35, of Khaserbheri in Singur, lost 3.5 acres of his land to the Nano project. He is one of the farmers who refused compensation. “I didn’t receive the cheques, now the land is gone as well. The state is responsible for this,” says Madhab.

HOOGHLY

Key candidates

Sajal Adhikari , CPM

Ratna de NAg, Trinamool

Rupchand pal , CPM

BACK STORY

2004 Rupchand Pal, CPM 1999 Rupchand Pal, CPM

1998 Rupchand Pal, CPM