Kolkata: Hundreds of hawker stalls on roads and pavements around New Market, including Bertram Street, Humayun Place, Hogg Street, Chowringhee Place, Lindsay Street and Grand Arcade, were shut for the second successive day as hawkers tried to gauge the situation following the change of guard in the state.
A 12-foot-high cut-out of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, clad in white kurta-pajama with a bandhgala and a saffron cap, stands under a BJP banner at the intersection of a nearly hawker-free Bertram Street and Humayun Place. This reflects the change in the political climate at the shopping hotspot.
While some hawkers are trying to switch allegiance to union leader Kali Khatik to ensure they can continue their trade under the new political patronage, others are in a wait-and-watch mode and stayed away on Tuesday to avoid trouble.
What has made the shift from one party to another tricky this time is an open declaration by Khatik that only Hindus and Muslims who have been with his union and intend to trade peacefully would be allowed to operate. He warned the rest, many among them Muslims from neighbouring states, to wind up and leave.
"The goons who have controlled this business have thrashed and looted my men under the patronage of Trinamool leaders and the police. In the past, they shifted from CPM union to TMC union. But that will no longer happen," he said.
Khatik himself switched from Trinamool Congress to BJP in 2021 and has been involved in at least two bloody clashes with rival union leaders over control of hawking space in Humayun Place. Buoyed by the saffron surge following BJP's landslide victory, he did the rounds on Monday and allegedly sent the message that he would henceforth control hawking in the area.
The unions till Monday morning were under the control of Trinamool leaders Debashis Kumar and Madan Mitra. Though Kumar lost the election, Mitra won, as did mayor Firhad Hakim. And though New Market lies under the Chowringhee assembly constituency that was also won by TMC, BJP appears to have conquered the territory overnight.
On Tuesday, helmetless youths riding bikes planted BJP flags on hawking stalls on Bertram Street, Humayun Place and Hogg Street and did the rounds at frequent intervals to make their presence felt.
The odd shops that were open pledged their allegiance to Khatik's union. "I have been selling soft toys in Humayun Place since 2012 and with Khatik right from the beginning, first with his TMC union and then with BJP. I have no problem operating. Others will have to take a call," said Md Tinku, whose soft toys stall stood amid rows of closed stalls.
Shakuntala Dey, a shopper who was pleasantly surprised to find parking space on Humayun Place that is usually occupied by hawkers, hoped the hawkers would finally be reined in. "I wish New Market remains like this and people return to shop here," she said.
Shopkeepers at New Market are, however, apprehensive of hawkers making a comeback after embracing Khatik's union. "We hope the encroachment around this heritage market and the rest of Kolkata will end under the new dispensation. But if the hawkers simply switch allegiance, it will be sad," said SS Hogg Market Traders Union president Ashok Gupta.
A Kolkata Municipal Corporation official said a decision was taken at the Town Vending Committee to remove hawkers from the New Market area who have been grabbing the carriageways.
