Will Mamata's didis stick with her?

The ticket seller at the Dhamakhali ferry-ghat (jetty) hands out small slips of bright pink paper with the word - Sandeshkhali written on it, regardless of the island you wish to travel .

Welcome to the Sunderbansa mosaic of inhabited and forested islands of Sundari trees and muddy water creeks and rivulets which lead to the Bay of Bengal. It may be the focus point of a rebellion against Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress cadres for the lumpen culture that some of them have come to represent.

The decrepit motorised wooden boat chugs away through the silvery waves of the lazily flowing Kalindi river towards the green tranquil islands which have gained notoriety on India's news channels fo exposes on TMC musclemen accused of large-scale land grabbing and molestation of women. The three 'sister' islands Sandeshkhali, Bhangatushkhali and the largest of them all Baro Tushkhali-all of which form part of the Basirhat

Lok Sabha constituency already have a festive air with TMC, BJP and the odd CPIM bunting and flags fluttering in the breeze. None would guess that these islands, a hop. Step and jump away from Bangladesh, witnessed a tumultuous "revolt" a few weeks ago of ordinary peasants against muscle men who have dominated the area for 1 decades spanning Left Front and TMC rule.

Twenty-five years ago Sahajahan Sheikh and his friends Uttam Sardar and Shibu Hazra were nobodies. In CPM's time they became somebody in the fish trade and when elections came they would organise the muscle by the time Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress came to power in 2011, they were on her side, explained Nemai Jena, who runs a popular tea shop at Baro Tushkhali.