‘Akhilesh and Mamata will win’

Samajwadi Party vice president Kiranmay Nanda, a politician of West Bengal now active in Uttar Pradesh, has redefined socialist activities from East to North. The 82-year-old Nanda created a record of sorts by continuing as minister in the Left government in West Bengal from 1982 to 2011, that too of the Fisheries department. He is a seven-time MLA and one-term Rajya Sabha member on a Samajwadi Party ticket. He was the general secretary of the West Bengal Socialist Party and was elected to the WB assembly six times.

A close associate of late Mulayam Singh Yadav, the leader is now a prominent face of the SP, led by former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, in Uttar Pradesh. Nanda is ultimately the second in command in the SP as he is the only Vice-President of the party. Nanda is also a bridge between West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Akhilesh Yadav, as both the Trinamool Congress and Samajwadi Party have joined hands against the BJP, and their ideologies match in national politics. He spoke to Manoj Bhadra of The Statesman on politics in UP as well as in WB and the fate of Akhilesh Yadav and Mamata Banerjee in the assembly elections.

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Q: You were a politician of West Bengal, but now you are more active in Uttar Pradesh. What difference do you find between the politics in two states?

A: Politics is the same. I led the socialist party in West Bengal, and nowadays I am attached to the country’s largest socialist party, the Samajwadi Party. In present-day politics, socialist ideology is the need of the country in the BJP era of inflation, discrimination and unemployment.

Q: Less than a year is left for the UP assembly elections, and the SP is tying to wrest it from the BJP after two defeats. What is the strategy of the party and what will it do to oust the BJP?

A: The BJP has been ruling in UP for the past nine years, but development has been blocked after the Samajwadi Party’s regime of 2012-17. You can see vast differences between the two regimes. Though the BJP has brought free foodgrains and other schemes but the people, particularly the youth, want jobs and stability, which is lacking. Besides law and order, discrimination against the PDA communities and atrocities against women and opposition party workers/leaders will prove to be negative for the BJP. I am sure that people themselves will oust the BJP in the 2027 polls, as they showed in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in UP. People’s perception also shows that they will not support the BJP this time.

Q: Nowadays, there is confusion and controversy on the SIR of electoral rolls in the country, and the opposition parties are on their toes to oppose alleged irregularities and lapses on the part of the Election Commission of India(ECI). Some opposition parties are even accusing the ECI of being hand in glove with the ruling BJP on this SIR issue. How do you see this SIR in UP as well as in West Bengal?

A: SIR is the way BJP is trying to dominate the country and the opposition-ruled states, to gain the maximum in future elections. I can surely say that this SIR, which was scheduled to be held before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, was delayed, but as the BJP lost its ground after their slogan of “Es Bar 400 Par’, they have brought SIR to ensure their win in the 2029 elections. In the Bihar assembly elections, they have reaped the success of SIR, and now they are doing it in the entire country so that no one can defeat them. No political party is opposed to the SIR, but everyone wants genuine voters to be included in the voters’ list. But it is seen that there is a huge discrimination in the process in UP as well as in WB, as the minorities and the PDA communities are being targeted by the BJP. The BJP knows very well that after their 2024 Lok Sabha loss that they will not be able to retain power in 2029; hence, such a move has been made to manipulate the electoral rolls and delete those voters who are not their supporters. My question is, when the last SIR was done in 2002-03, and it was done after 20 years, why did they not do it in 2023 before the Lok Sabha polls? The only answer I think is that the modus operandi of the BJP is to win the polls through manipulated electoral rolls. In UP, the BJP in nexus with the ECI is using Form 7 to delete the names of genuine voters to make the electoral rolls in such a way that they win a majority of the Lok Sabha and assembly seats. In almost all 403 assembly segments, on an average 80,000 voters’ names, mostly of the PDA, could be deleted. We have raised this several times before the ECI, and even our legislators have met the UP CEO, but nothing concrete has been done to check the lapses. Similarly, in WB, even after several efforts by the TMC government, no effective action was taken by the ECI to make a genuine voter list. As assembly elections in WB is just a month away, the move is seen as a last-ditch effort by the BJP to wrest power in the state, where people had opposed them in the past and will do the same in the next elections. One thing I am sure about is that in UP, no one can prevent Akhilesh Yadav from becoming the next CM and on the other hand, the BJP will not be able to gain anything in WB, as Mamata Banerjee will again gain power with a landslide majority.

Q: In UP assembly polls, there is a big question about whether the SP will forge any alliance and when the candidates’ names will be announced?

A: Samajwadi Party is part of the INDI alliance, and we will have an alliance with the Congress as we had in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, when we defeated the BJP on 43 seats out of 80. We had won 37 and the Congress 6. The UP results forced the Narendra Modi government to take the help of the JD(U) and N Chandrababu Naidu to form the NDA government after they failed to get an absolute majority. Though we are yet to finalise the seats with the Congress and some other smaller parties, things are being discussed in the party forum. We are also holding a survey in all 403 assembly segments in the state to get a first-hand report about the viable candidates. We are sure that the candidates will be announced later this year after finalising the alliance and other issues.

Q: The last question, the SP is supporting the TMC in WB. Will SP seek some seats in WB from the Trinamool?

A: SP president Akhilesh Yadav and WB CM Mamata Banerjee have the best of relations. The SP will fully support the TMC in the assembly polls to prevent the BJP from wresting power, but there is no such plan to contest any seat in West Bengal.