Veteran titan Badal’s daughter creating waves in Hrishyamukh assembly constituency by door-to-door campaign

By Our Correspondent

Agartala, February 7, 2023

“But age apace comes , At last to all, And a lone house filled, With the cricket’s call ,And the scampering mouse, In the hollow wall”. This last stanza in English poet Walter De la Mare’s famous poem ‘Alone’ seems to fit in well with the final predicament of all human lives. But in the context of current pre-election scenario in Tripura the quoted stanza seems applicable to the veteran titan of CPI (M) Badal Chowdhury . From a student leader to a powerful central committee member and long-time minister-Badal Chowdhury had ruled the roost in Tripura’s CPI (M) politics for over four decades. He had been elected to the state assembly as many as eight times between 1978 and 2018, was a minister in charge of important departments like agriculture, finance , revenue and PWD for close to three decades, an MP for two years and member of the party’s top decision making bodies like the state committee, secretariat and central committee for many years. But the veteran septuagenarian has been lying low for the past four years with critical illness , hardly able to move alone. Badal Chowdhury’s absence from the poll fray in his Hrishyamukh constituency in Belonia subdivision which he transformed in terms of development is conspicuous this time. His physical ailments have taken a toll on him, exacerbated by the undue harassment to which he had been subjected by police at the behest of then chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb.

He made a token appearance on the poll stage once but his absence is now being made up for by his lone daughter Barsha Chowdhury who has been going from door to door with the party candidate Ashok Mitra, a retired presidential award winner teacher. Despite the BJP sponsored terror , Barsha , a graduate from Calcutta’s Saint Xaviers and currently a student of law in Delhi’s Amity university, took time off to protect her father’s citadel for the party. She is covering all 59 booths in the constituency with her sophisticated approach , evoking spontaneous response from voters. Barsha alone has changed the pre-election profile of the Hrishyamukh constituency through her deft personal touch and fluent articulation on nature of politics and governance in the state over the past five years. In an informal chat with media persons on the sidelines of her campaign Barsha exuded confidence that the CPI (M) candidate will romp home with a thumping margin in the upcoming election. “The motto of the so-called double engine government is double prices of all essential commodities, double chief minister and statewide terror” said Barsha to a newsman.