How Jahangir Pushpa Khan and TMC's Diamond Harbour model came apart

Ahead of the second round of polling on April 29 in West Bengal, Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee presented the constituents of the Falta Assembly seat with an unusual gift: an electric crematorium. "I thought that after results are out on May 4, some people might get heart attacks, and it's our duty to ensure their last rites are conducted properly", Banerjee, effectively the Trinamool Congress's Number 2, had reasoned. That was nearly a month ago. Since then, the political tide has turned and how.

The BJP, whose last rites Abhishek Banerjee had offered to conduct, has stormed to power in West Bengal, winning 207 seats and banishing the Trinamool Congress (TMC) back to the opposition after 15 years. That same dramatic shift has now unfolded in Falta, where BJP candidate Debangshu Panda has won the seat in a landslide. TMC's strongman and self-proclaimed Pushpa, Jahangir Khan, finished a distant fourth.

Since 2009, Diamond Harbour, the parliamentary constituency within which the Falta Assembly segment falls, has been an unassailable TMC fortress. It was occupied by the party's National General Secretary and Mamata Banerjee's designated successor, Abhishek Banerjee. Assisting him in holding onto the fort was his loyal aide Jahangir Khan.

Today, that fortress is in ruins. With all 22 rounds of counting finished on Sunday, BJP candidate Debangshu Panda has secured a commanding victory with 1,49,421 votes. The CPI(M)'s Shambu Nath Karmi was in the second place with 40,625 votes. Meanwhile, Banerjee's once-formidable lieutenant Jahangir Khan, who bowed out of the race on May 19, has been relegated to a distant fourth, managing to secure only 6,257 votes.

HOW DIAMOND HARBOUR BECAME A TRINAMOOL FORTRESS

Before diving into how Falta, and, by extension, Diamond Harbour, flipped saffron, it is essential to understand how the TMC turned the region into an unassailable bastion in the first place.

Over the last decade, the port city of Diamond Harbour has risen to prominence on West Bengal’s political map. Its ascent has been deeply intertwined with the rapid rise of its three-time MP, Abhishek Banerjee. Transforming from a political greenhorn in 2014 into Trinamool's second-in-command, Banerjee's phenomenal growth in Bengal politics was largely fuelled by his absolute hold over this territory.

Falta is one of the seven key assembly segments making up the Diamond Harbour parliamentary constituency, situated within the South 24 Parganas district.

A look at past election data illustrates just how tightly Banerjee held the reins here. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, he won the seat by a massive margin of 3.2 lakh votes. By the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, that gap had widened to a staggering 7.1 lakh votes. The dominance was so absolute that during the last panchayat elections, Trinamool swept most of the local blocks entirely uncontested.

Different political sides offer vastly different explanations for Banerjee's iron grip on the region. The TMC attributes his dominance entirely to what it brands the "Diamond Harbour Model". This strategy blended grassroots welfare schemes with the rapid development of health infrastructure in the region.

This hands-on approach first grabbed widespread attention during the Covid-19 pandemic, when Banerjee’s supporters mobilised to run community kitchens across every block in the constituency, ensuring a steady supply of free food packets to families during the lockdown.

In the years following the pandemic, this model evolved into highly publicised initiatives centred around personal outreach and direct citizen engagement. In 2022, the MP launched Ek Dakey Abhishek (Abhishek at one call), a programme allowing constituents to dial a toll-free number and report local grievances or personal issues straight to his administrative team.

However, the initiative that earned him the most praise was Shraddharghya (Tribute). Under this scheme, thousands of TMC workers voluntarily pooled funds to provide a monthly pension of 1,000 to roughly 70,000 senior citizens across the constituency, effectively cementing a loyal, direct relationship between the MP and his voters.

TMC USED FEAR, INTIMIDATION IN DIAMOND HARBOUR: BJP

The opposition paints a different picture, attributing the TMC's dominance to an atmosphere of fear, intimidation, and election-related malpractice. Both the BJP and the Left Front have frequently stated that the local police file cases against opposition workers to sideline them before elections.

BJP leaders, including Amit Malviya, have labelled Diamond Harbour as an epicentre of voter coercion and electoral irregularities. "Diamond Harbour has long been notorious as a hub of criminal activity and an epicentre of electoral malpractice", Malyiva had alleged on April 26.

Beyond election management, the opposition has also linked the region's political power to an illicit underground economy fuelling the TMC's war chest. Due to Diamond Harbour’s proximity to the Sundarbans and the Bangladesh border, the BJP alleged that the area serves as a transit point for cross-border smuggling, human trafficking, and infiltration meant to build a secure vote bank for the TMC.

Local BJP workers have gone so far as to compare the constituency to Lyari, the criminal enclave of Karachi featured in the Dhurandhar movies. As one BJP worker had tweeted, "Lyari of TMC is Diamond Harbour! Because of Diamond Harbour's proximity to the Sunderbans and the Bangladesh border, fuel infiltration".

HOW THE ELECTORAL BATTLE OVER FALTA AND DIAMOND HARBOUR FARED

The localised battle within Falta turned into a high-stakes clash after widespread complaints of voter intimidation and EVM tampering on April 29. Allegations included using adhesive tape, ink, and even attar on buttons to track or block choices. In response, the Election Commission nullified the initial vote and ordered a sweeping, full repoll across all 285 booths in Falta.

The decision provoked a furious reaction from Abhishek Banerjee, also the TMC's National General Secretary. Defending his political stronghold, Banerjee launched a fierce attack on X against the BJP leadership, calling them a "Bangla Birodhi Gujarati gang" and their poll officials "stooges".

Mocking claims that his influence was fading, he issued a direct challenge, "Bring everything you have got. I challenge the entire Union of India. Come to Falta. Send your strongest, send one of the godfathers from Delhi".

Ground-level enforcement in Falta was spearheaded by the EC's police observer, IPS officer Ajay Pal Sharma. Known widely as "Singham" for his hardline stance against criminals, a nod to the fictional, tough-as-nails cop from the Ajay Devgn-starrer film series, Sharma launched an aggressive crackdown on local intimidation.

This approach led to a direct face-off with local TMC heavyweight Jahangir Khan. When the officer visited Khan's house to warn his family against election-day rigging, Khan defiantly fired back by comparing himself to the blockbuster movie character "Pushpa", declaring that he wouldn't bow down.

However, the equations changed immediately after the Bengal results on May 4.

The BJP staged a massive surge across West Bengal, winning a commanding 207 of the 294 seats, securing a majority and forming a government for the first time. The ruling TMC plummeted to just 80 seats, completely altering the political backdrop before Falta could even cast its fresh ballots.

The final act took an unexpected turn just two days before the scheduled May 21 repoll after Khan abruptly withdrew from the race. He claimed he was stepping aside so Falta could benefit from a development package promised by the newly elected BJP administration.

However, the Election Commission's deadline for candidate withdrawal had already expired by then, meaning his decision carried political significance but no legal effect. His name and the TMC symbol therefore remained on the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), and any votes cast in his favour remained valid and were counted during the final tally.

It wasn't a tactical withdrawal, but an abject surrender. The TMC had seen the statewide results. It couldn't pull off the election miracle with the huge deployment of central paramilitary forces.

The BJP leadership immediately mocked Jahangir Khan's exit, with Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari declaring that "Pushpa" had run away. Despite Khan's sudden exit, the repoll went ahead under tight security, drawing an 87% turnout. After all 22 rounds of polling, the BJP's Debangshu Panda has swept the seat, bagging 1,49,421 votes.

HOW ABHISHEK'S DIAMOND HARBOUR MODEL FAILED IN FALTA

In many ways, the TMC's wipe out in Falta mirrored the wider collapse across West Bengal.

Just as the state's electorate largely looked past the TMC's flagship welfare programmes, (such as Lakshmir Bhandar and Kanyashree) in favour of the BJP's alternative vision and better law and order situation, a similar shift played out within Diamond Harbour.

Abhishek Banerjee's highly localised "Diamond Harbour Model", once considered a bulletproof blueprint for grassroots voter retention, ultimately lost its shine when tested against the state's overarching anti-incumbency wave.

A heavy deployment of central forces, in fact, played a decisive role, effectively neutralising the TMC's familiar tactics of fear and intimidation. For many residents, the heavily guarded booths offered a sense of democratic freedom they hadn't experienced in over a decade.

"It is the same as it was back in my childhood," one local voter told news agency ANI on May 21. "We were scared to cast our votes 15 years back, but not any more. Back then, we were not even allowed to come to the booth—the goons would stop us right at the gate. I am very happy today."

That the fear had evaporated from Falta was highlighted by election rallies of the CPI(M) for the repolling. Its candidate said that he couldn't campaign earlier because of Jahangir Khan's threats.

Adding to the collapse of the 'Diamond Harbour Model' was the dramatic withdrawal of Banerjee's trusted lieutenant, Jahangir Khan, just two days before the repoll.

Khan’s political apparatus had already fractured. Immediately after the May 4 results, his office was attacked and vandalised, and he lacked any real backing from the TMC high command to carry on the fight. Abhishek Banerjee, being heckled with "chor, chor (thief, thief)" chants, himself is avoiding public appearances.

Bowing out at a press conference, Khan claimed he was stepping aside for the sake of local peace and a "special development package" promised to Falta by the newly elected BJP Chief Minister, Suvendu Adhikari.

The TMC high command quickly distanced itself from the move, calling it a personal decision and claiming Khan had broken under immense pressure after more than 100 party workers were arrested following the May 4 verdict.

Meanwhile, BJP leaders ruthlessly mocked the exit. Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari took a direct dig at Khan's earlier cinematic bravado, stating, "Pushpa said 'jhukega nahi' (will not bow down). Now Pushpa is down in the dumps." Adhikari also warned voters that the sudden withdrawal was a calculated TMC conspiracy to make the electorate complacent, urging a 100% turnout to complete the saffron sweep.

Summarising the sudden evaporation of the ruling party’s presence in the seat, West Bengal Minister Dilip Ghosh remarked that the TMC's lack of campaigning wasn't a surprise. "In previous years, they never campaigned; they used brute force," Ghosh noted. "The results are already known. The goondas have run away, and there is no support from the police any more. Who will campaign for them?"

The results of the Falta repoll on Sunday are, for all intents and purposes, a broader reaffirmation of the mandate that swept the state on May 4. With the BJP securing the seat by a commanding majority, the shift not only lays to rest the final vestiges of the TMC's decades long dominance in the region, but also signals the definitive crumbling of Abhishek Banerjee's once-touted "Diamond Harbour Model".