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Mamata Banerjee’s love for celebrities is turning out to be a bagful of entertainment for the Bengal electorate, spoilt for choice with the Trinamool Congress fielding as many as ten local celebrities for the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the fray.
Though the clear favourites are Tollywood’s reigning star, Dev or Deepak Adhikari and Bengali screen icon, Suchitra Sen’s daughter and yesteryear actor, Moon Moon Sen (who recently introduced herself as Srimati Dev Varma), the party’s star list includes Sandhya Roy, one of the leading ladies of Bengali cinema in the 1960s, singers Indranil Sen and Saumitra Roy of ‘Bhoomi” fame, theatre personality, Arpita Ghosh and former Indian football team capitain, Baichung Bhutia.
The TMC may have fielded stars in the past -- sitting MPs actors, Tapas Pal and Shatabdi Roy and former footballer Prasun Banerjee, who have retained their seats this time as well –but the onslaught unleashed by the TMC in Bengal, is certainly being lapped up by an electorate hitherto considered to be mature.
Braving the scorching sun in an unusually hot summer this year, people have jostled for space and thronged Dev’s car, just to catch one glimpse of Tollywood's (Bengali film industry) current favourite, on his campaign trail. So much so that it prompted Dev to equate the frenzy to “rape”, landing him in a major controversy.
Of course, Dev had more substantive things to say, the most significant being, "If Barack Obama can run America, why should the young generation in Bengal lag behind”, to loud cheering from a mesmerised crowd at Ghatal in West Medinipur.
But it's not just Adhikari who is pulling crowds, Moon Moon Sen has emerged as quite a surprise package. Draped in cotton sarees, in deliberate hues of blue (Mamata Banerjee’s favourite colour) the “ma er meye” (mother’s daughter), which she has almost made a tag line, is drawing huge crowds.
She will be taking on CPI(M) heavyweight, Basudeb Acharia, a nine time MP, but is confident of beating both the Bankura heat and Acharia. "It's very difficult to look glamorous in summer, but I'll see what I can do. I have done theatre in Bankura, I know how to combat the heat," she was recently heard saying.
The heat and dust, however, appear to be getting the better of some of Banerjee’s stars, much to the dismay of party workers.
Sandhya Roy, made it very clear to party workers on Saturday that she would not be able to make it to all the roadshows. Her reason: she is old and hails from the world of culture and is contesting to honour the Chief Minister’s request.
Earlier, Banerjee had absolved MLA, Debasree Roy, for her inability to visit her constituency frequently, by saying that she was from a creative world and a “guest”.
There are many versions as to why Banerjee chose to field so many celebrities in the elections. The official one, however is, "We have nominated people from different fields because I want Bengal to be represented from different walks of life in the Lok Sabha," as explained by Banerjee while announcing the list.
Some, however, view it as Banerjee’s conscious effort to move away from the ‘high brow culture” nurtured under the earlier Left Front regime. Political observers also think that there could still be other reasons. For one, many of the seats are difficult and then, none of them have a political ambition. "They may be or may have been masters of their domains, but are novices in the field of politics. That should suit TMC fine," they pointed out.
A quick run through the constituencies shows that it's not going to be a cake walk for the celebrities.
Dev is contesting from Ghatal Lok Sabha constituency in West Medinipur. In 2009, CPI leader, Gurudas Dasgupta had won from Ghatal though TMC had bagged the assembly seat. Of the seven assembly seats in Ghatal, four are with TMC, one with Congress and two with the Left. The Congress influence is strong there, but Dev being a reigning Tollywood star could still manage to save the day for TMC
Indranil Sen is contesting from Baharampr constituency where he is pitted against Congress strongman, Adhir Chowdhury, while Bhutia, who is contesting from Darjeeling, doesn't have the support of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, which wields influence in the region. Sandhya Roy, on the other hand, will be taking on CPI's Prabodh Panda and Moon Moon Sen, of course, has an uphill task on hand.
Banerjee’s penchant for fielding celebrities goes beyond Bengal. Banerjee personally announced Bollywood’s yesteryear actor, Biswajit’s candidature from New Delhi, on her visit to the capital, leaving the actor with little option, but to feel “extremely proud”.
Asked whether film stars bring anything to politics apart from “glam” quotient, Biswajit shot back, “What about American President Ronald Reagan? And then in India, the late legendary hero, MGR, present Chief Minister, Jayalalitha, Kannada superstar, Rajkumar, what exemplary work they have done.”
But whether the touted “cultural revolution” of the TMC by roping in stars with mass appeal, is for real, is a matter of conjecture. What will be evidently clear next month, is the success of TMC’s electoral strategy, will a galaxy of stars rake in the votes.
