“Bahirgata Aase, Bharigata Jae Bangla Nijer Meye kei Chae (Outsiders come and outsiders go, Bengal wants its own daughter)“, Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee raised the slogan with his party candidate and actor Shatrughan Sinha by his side on Saturday. The campaign for the Asansol Lok Sabha bypoll ended on Sunday and the issue of “insider vs outsider” that began with the announcement of the candidates for the bypoll has dominated the poll campaign throughout.
What Mr. Banerjee was trying to emphasise through the slogan at Asansol is that “the BJP is a party of the outsiders” and the voters should have faith in party chairperson Mamata Banerjee. However, it is Trianamool candidate at Asansol Mr. Sinha who is having to fend the “outsider” question.
The actor-turned-politician is often heard saying at political gatherings that he is not only “Bihari Babu” but also a “Bengali Babu”. At times, the 76-year old is seen emphasising on the Bengali pronouncement of his name “Shatrughn” not “Shatrughan” as pronounced in Hindi. “If I am outsider at Asansol then what is Narendra Modi at Varanasi,” Mr. Sinha was often heard saying throughout the campaign.
His opponent and BJP nominee Agnimitra Paul has often described herself “a daughter of West Bengal,” and said, “Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has taught us that anyone from outside West Bengal is an outsider”. Ms. Paul, a fashion designer-turned-politician, is an MLA from the Asansol Dakshin constituency that falls under the Lok Sabha seat.
‘Non-Bengali’ population
The constituency lined with coal mines, steel plants and a number of sick and closed industries has a large “non-Bengali” population, almost 45% of the electorate, and that is why Ms. Banerjee took the risk of fielding yesteryears superstar Mr. Sinha. who is popular among the ‘non-Bengali” population. The star power of the actor is evident where he is seen campaigning in open vehicles during long road shows drawing large crowds.
Ever since the inception of the party in 1998, the Trinamool Congress has never won Lok Sabha polls from Asansol, located in south-western part of the State bordering Jharkhand. This is the reason why the electoral contest has emerged as a prestige fight for the Trinamool and the BJP.
The Trinamool has recently nominated a number of leaders from States outside West Bengal to the Rajya Sabha, who include Sushmita Deb from Assam and Luizinho Faleiro from Goa. Also the party’s chairperson has a liking for actors and a number of them — Dev from Ghatal, Nushrat Jahan from Basirhat and Mimi Chakraborty from Jadavpur — were elected to the Lok Sabha in 2019. What makes Mr. Sinha’s nomination unique is that though he is an actor, he does not hail from West Bengal and is contesting the Lok Sabha polls from the State. It was the “insider vs outsider” debate that helped the Trinamool to stop the BJP’ s march in the 2021 Assembly polls.
Despite the electorate of Asansol electing Left and BJP MPs in the past few decades, the politics of the region started to change after the 2021 Assembly polls. The resignation of Babul Supriyo in September 2021 that has resulted in the bypoll was followed by the civic polls at the Asansol Municipal Corporation held weeks ago, which was swept by the State’s ruling party.
By the end of the poll campaign in Asansol, the election was appearing something similar to the high voltage Lok Sabha polls of 2019 where former Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad defeated Mr. Sinha who was contesting as the Congress nominee. “I defeated him in Patna. In the past three years, he [Mr. Shatrughan Sinha] has changed three parties [the BJP, the Congress and the Trinamool]. I doubt how long will he remain in the Trinamool,” Mr. Prasad said, campaigning for the BJP’s candidate in Asnasol.
But the “outsider” tag and shifting of political loyalties of the Trinamool candidate is not going to be enough for the BJP which is grappling with factionalism in West Bengal after the 2021 Assembly polls debacle. It will be a challenge for the BJP to take on the well-oiled machinery of the Trinamool Congress. The Left Front has nominated Partha Mukherjee for the Asansol contest. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader has recently been included in the party’s central committee.
Elections will be held on April 12 and the vote count will take place on April 16 when the decision of the electorate on the “insider vs outsider” debate will be out.
