At first glance, Rupali Biswas looks like any other woman from rural Bengal but the 25-year-old reflects a determination to make her presence felt in the Ranaghat Lok Sabha seat.
Rupali, wife of slain TMC MLA Satyajit Biswas, is party candidate for the Ranaghat constituency which will go to polls in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections on Monday.
Probably one of the youngest candidates for the 17th Lok Sabha elections, Rupali, was only 25 years and eight days old at the time of filing her nomination on April 5.
She is from the Matuas community forming around 55 per cent of total
voters in Ranaghat Lok Sabha constituency.
"Rupali is a new woman. She has changed in the last three months. She has matured a bit and picked up quite quickly realising hard facts of life. I can see a birth of a new woman," Ritika Kundu, Trinamool Congress Sabhadipathi of Nadia Zilla Parishad said.
"She has realised that working for the common people is her motto. And that's how she can realise dreams of her husband," Kundu said.
"Politics is not new to me. I have grown up seeing politics and my husband was a popular politician but I had never thought of being into it totally. I never dreamt that didi (Mamata Banerjee) will find me fit to share this huge responsibility," Rupali told PTI.
"Life has never been this busy before. My world came down crashing down on the night of Saraswati Puja when I got news that he (Satyajit) was shot. I thought the world was finished for me," says Rupali as she holds her one-and-half-year old son Soumyajit in her arms.
The two-time TMC legislator from Nadia's Krishnaganj assembly constituency, under the Ranaghat Lok Sabha constituency, was shot dead on February 10.
"I had never imagined life without him (Satyajit). We got married in November 2016 and now, I am alone with my little son. I was a bit nervous when my name was announced. But didi (Mamata Banerjee) has given me a new direction. I have realised that by working for the common people I will be able to realise my husband's dream. It's a challenge to me. There is a void created after my husband was murdered... I have to fill it up," she said.
"I prefer talking to locals personally. I take a note of their grievances or any complaints. I want to find out what are they looking for.. I want to feel their pulse," she said while feeding her son, who has been unwell for the last few days.
Rupali has been taking the little boy to several rallies in the past few days.
"He (Soumyajit) does not want to leave me and that was why I was taking him to meetings and rallies on several occasions. I used to get up early in the morning, feed him and then get ready to go to meetings. But in this hot and humid weather he has fallen ill. Now, he is staying with my family... In between meetings I trying to go home and take care of him," Rupali stated.
Talking how difficult it was to attend rallies and take care of the child, Rupali said, "My family is with me. My party is with me. They are my strength. I know and I am confident of fighting this battle. And when you have our beloved didi with you, there is nothing to worry about. She is face of this candidature... I am nothing."
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has filed Jagannath Sarkar against Rupali while the Congress has nominated Minati Biswas and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) Rama Biswas.
Trinamool's Nadia president Gourisankar Dutta appears confident about Rupali's win and dismisses any BJP invasion into the TMC citadel in the constituency.
"There is no Modi wave or anything like that. I have seen many such waves in my life. Nothing will be able to stand in front of Mamata Banerjee's unnoyon (development). Rupali will definitely win we are confident of that."
Locals from Shantipur, Hanshali, Nawabdwip echo Dutta's confidence about Rupali's win.
"She (Rupali) has gone through much. She is fighting and we are with her. She is a little girl and we have seen her grow. I can feel her pain. She is definitely going to win. There is a huge emotion involved with her. We from the Motua community want her to win," Satyabrata Karmakar, a resident of Krishanganj, said.
Another voter Ratna Singh says, "We are for Rupali. What is BJP? Do you eat or use it for bathing? I do not know that... I knew the manner Satyajit was murdered. She (Rupali) must get justice. She must win and everybody must vote for her."
The Ranaghat Lok Sabha constituency was created from the Nabadwip parliamentary seat.
Ranaghat, a seat reserved for members of the Scheduled Castes, has been a TMC fortress since Sucharu Ranjan Haldar won the first Lok Sabha election in 2009 against the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
Sitting MP Tapas Mondal defeated Left Front candidate Archana Biswas in 2014.
Voting for Ranaghat parliamentary constituency is scheduled in the fourth phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections on April 29.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
