‘Where is Pathan?’ In WB’s Baharampur, residents complain of being abandoned by ‘outsider’ TMC MP Yusuf
Baharampur (Murshidabad): It was about two years ago that starry-eyed residents of Murshidabad, a town lying east of the Bhagirathi river in West Bengal, voted out their ‘Robinhood’, the moniker many still use in Baharampur to refer to Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, and elected former cricketer Yusuf Pathan as their MP.
The former India captain, a resident of Vadodara, Gujarat, was roped in by West Bengal CM and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee just ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in 2024 and given a ticket to contest from Baharampur, one of the three Parliamentary seats in Murshidabad, a district which at 66 percent has one of the highest Muslim populations in the state.
Yusuf Pathan went on to defeat Chowdhury, a five-term MP and two-term MLA, on his home turf by over 80,000 votes, surprising many. Chowdhury—contesting from the Baharampur assembly seat this time—was till then considered the undisputed leader of Baharampur, his home since birth.
But today, the fan following for Pathan has disappeared. It has been replaced by disappointment bordering on anger. Talking to people in the district, one hears an often-repeated question: “Where is Pathan?”
Complaints against him pour in wherever one goes in his constituency.
Residents say that since winning the seat, Pathan has mostly abandoned them. “He does not stay in the constituency at a stretch. He only comes here to attend events and inaugurate some functions, stays put in his hotel and leaves. He barely meets the common people. Now that elections are here you will see him again, campaigning for the party,” Saiful Islam, 33, a resident of Baharampur’s Beldanga village told ThePrint.
Saiful, who along with his father Safiqul runs a hardware shop in Beldanga, says that if Pathan gets a Lok Sabha ticket again in 2029, it is unlikely he will win.
His father butts in. “Yusuf Pathan is never here when we need him. Where is he when the people here are protesting against SIR (Special Intensive Revision)? Names of so many locals living here for generations have been deleted or put under adjudication. They are running around, not knowing what to do. Shouldn’t he have been here standing with his constituents during such times?” Safiqul asks.
The SIR drive in West Bengal has come under a lot of flak after names of hundreds of voters, especially in districts like Malda and Murshidabad, where minorities live in large numbers, were either deleted or put under adjudication. In Murshidabad, for instance, of the 55 lakh voters, over 11 lakh have been put under adjudication.
A similar story played out last year, when violence broke out during protests over the Wakf Amendment law. “Nobody saw him here even then,” says Ajay Chowdhury, a resident of Bahrampur’s Cossimbazar.
Pathan has, however, refuted the allegations. “This narrative that has been built that I don’t go to my constituency is unfair. It pains me. I go to my constituency regularly. As MP, I have responsibilities not only towards my constituents, but my party and the country as well,” Pathan told ThePrint on the phone from Vadodara.
Asked how often he goes to Baharampur, Pathan said he tries to go once every month or every two months. “I don’t have a house there. I stay in the circuit house. I meet everybody who comes to see me with their problems and do whatever I can to help them. I am giving my 100 percent.”
He added, “I am new to all this. I am trying to learn. On one hand, my constituents complain I don’t go there. On the other hand, my family, my wife and children complain that they don’t see me at home because I am either in Delhi or Kolkata. I don’t know what to do.”
‘Regret voting out Adhir for Pathan’
Residents say they now regret voting for a “bohiragoto” (outsider). Most of the time, he is in Vadodara, his home town, Chowdhury says, adding, “He runs a cricket academy there. So it’s natural he will be there looking after his business. But then why did he contest from here? People now realise the mistake they have made voting against Adhir.”
Safiqul Islam, quoted earlier, says: “He does not have a full-time office here where people can go with their grievances. Look at Adhir. His office is open all the time, even if he is not around. You can go with your complaint and the people there will help you.”
Chastened by their 2024 experience, Baharampur residents say they are rooting for Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury this time.
“Adhir-da is our bhoomiputra (son of the soil). He has a strong chance of winning this time though he is contesting the assembly elections,” Safiqul says.
Baharampur is one of the seven assembly constituencies under the Murshidabad Parliamentary seat that has 80 percent Hindu voters. In 2021, BJP’s Subrata Maitra had won the seat by 89,340 votes. Trinamool Congress’s Naru Gopal Mukherjee had stood second with 62,488 votes, while Congress’s Manoj Chakraborty finished third with 40,167 votes.
Even while admitting that he is not seen in the constituency often, Trinamool leaders defend Pathan. “He is an MP. He has a lot of responsibilities. He can’t be going door-to-door meeting people every time he is here,” Apurba Sarkar, Trinamool Congress’ Murshidabad district president told ThePrint.
Former Trinamool Congress MLA Humayun Kabir, who was expelled from the party last December claims Pathan won simply because the Muslim votes got consolidated in favour of the Trinamool Congress after Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, who was campaigning in West Bengal for the Assembly elections, made some communal remarks against the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool government.
”The Hindu-Muslim polarisation that happened here because of Adityanath’s address helped Pathan. Otherwise, Adhir Chowdhury would have won. This time around the disenchantment against Yusuf Pathan will help Adhir,” Kabir told ThePrint.
Kabir, who launched his own party—the Aam Janata Unnayan Party—in January this year, is contesting the election from two Assembly seats—Rejinagar and Naoda—both under the Baharampur parliamentary constituency. For the elections, his party has formed an alliance with Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen.
Pathan said he wouldn’t let all the criticism affect his work. “I will keep working for them,” he told ThePrint, adding that he has been regularly raising issues of the state in the Parliament. “I raised the issue of migrant workers during zero hour.”
Pathan’s Parliament record
In the close to two years that he has been an MP, Pathan’s parliamentary track record has not been exactly impressive.
According to PRS Legislative Research, Yusuf’s attendance in Parliament since he became an MP is just 57 per cent as against the national average (attendance of MPs) of 85 per cent.
He has participated in 10 debates so far and asked 82 questions related to his constituency of 1.78 lakh electors, as against the national average of 100.
Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) data shows that of the Rs 9.80 crore allocated to him so far, he has spent just Rs 20 lakh. He has recommended 166 works, of which not even one has been completed, according to the MPLADS dashboard.
Pathan told ThePrint that the dashboard does not reflect the real status. “I gave Rs 20 lakh to build a badminton stadium. It was completed recently. Some more works are going on. Because of elections, new works can’t start.”
Under MPLADS, MPs get Rs 5 crore annually to carry out development work in their constituencies.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
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