Suited Booted: TMC MPs Mimi Chakraborty, Nusrat Jahan's Parliament visit

Who: Bengali film stars-turned-All India Trinamool Congress politicians Mimi Chakraborty and Nusrat Jahan made their first visit to Parliament as elected leaders on Monday. But as soon as Chakraborty uploaded on Twitter photos of the two posing outside the hallowed House, their attire became fodder for trolls and split opinions on what constitutes appropriate wear for members of Parliament.

Where: Chakraborty, who won from Jadavpur in West Bengal, wore a white shirt and a pair of denims, while Basirhat MP Jahan was clad in maroon formal pants and a zipped top. Glamourous photos of the actors and a TikTok video featuring the two had already been doing the rounds on social media, along with blatantly sexist jokes on how they could ensure greater attendance in Parliament. What got the goat of a section of Twitter users was the choice of Western dressing — as seen in this case, it can often invite a dressing-down from the upholders of “Indian culture and tradition”. 

For others, it was simply not neta-like. There were some who pointed out that what the duo wore was “serious” enough to be seen as parliamentary, and that they should only be judged for their performance as MPs. Celebrities have come out in defence of the two actors. Actors Hema Malini, an MP herself from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, Renuka Shahane and Swara Bhasker have pointed out that women are often targeted by trolls who should be ignored.

What: It's a matter open to debate whether what the first-time MPs wore would have been construed as inappropriate had Parliament been in session. The rulebook codifies behaviour and language expected from MPs. But there is no dress code in the Indian Parliament, unlike in the UK’s House of Commons. It is just as well that there isn't a code, for how do we then call it the temple of democracy and not be allowed the freedom (within reasonable limits) to wear what we want? Also, how else could one witness one MP — with an acting career behind him — turn up impersonating the likes of Hitler, Ambedkar, Sai Baba or the god Krishna, as the mood took him? That's what the Telugu Desam Party's Naramalli Sivaprasad did every now and then in the last Lok Sabha.

How: Aside from the sexist trolling Chakraborty and Jahan were subjected to, one may wonder if some of those objecting to them perceive Western wear as a cultural threat or even fail to reconcile the image of a politician with it. Right from the days of the Independence struggle, when Mahatma Gandhi asserted the spartan khadi as a sartorial rebuke to the suited British ruler, non-Western dressing has come to define the desi politician. So, for men, kurta pajama, Nehru jackets, dhotis, veshtis et al have prevailed, while women leaders have continued with the sari and salwar kameez. In today's context, one would suspect that a politician in a plain shirt and pants to be suspiciously leftist, a vanishing breed in Parliament. Chakraborty and Jahan represent a party that gave the highest percentage of tickets to women candidates in this election. Whether the Trinamool women will challenge the status quo with millennial fashion is anybody's guess.