Under the stewardship of Mamata Banerjee, politics in West Bengal is undergoing a metamorphosis. Gone are the days when, under the rule of the Left, it was the domain of the firebrands, be they Marxists or their adversaries. The mercurial Chief Minister has ushered in the era of the dream merchants. For, the candidates’ list of ruling Trinamool Congress in the current Lok Sabha elections is almost a who’s who of Tollywood, stage personalities and singers. Among them are screen goddess Suchitra Sen’s daughter Moon Moon Sen, Dev of Chander Pahar fame, matinee idol Sandhya Roy, thespian Arpita Ghosh, singer Indranil Sen and Soumitra Roy of Bangla Band ‘Bhoomi.’ Cine actors Satabdi Roy and Tapas Pal are re-nominated. Matinee idol of yesteryears Biswajit is engaged in almost a quixotic battle in North Delhi. BJP, too, has fielded a Bollywood biggie like Bappi Lahiri, actor Joy Banerjee, singer Babul Supriyo, and magician P. C. Sorcar (Jr).
Personalities from the world of celluloid, stage and music will surely usher in fresh winds into the arena of politics which is often the playground of self-seekers and the corrupt. For the voters of Bengal, used to dyspeptic Left politicians, it is a welcome visual change. But, one wonders how much time these busy professionals would be able to devote to their constituencies and to parliamentary duties. A few sitting MPs and MLAs of Trinamool are already known in their constituencies as ‘seasonal birds.’ Of late, one of them, an actor, had been introduced in a public meeting in her constituency by Mamata Banerjee as “a guest” of the party. Not surprisingly, the Trinamool chairperson has to be busy campaigning for the ‘guests’ in the party, leaving other candidates in the lurch.
There may also be a problem in the famous artistes getting tuned to the formalities of parliamentary politics and the humdrum of life in villages and district towns of poverty-ridden Bengal. The entire district unit of Trinamool in Bankura was lately busy hunting for a suitable place to stay for Moon Moon Sen, who is a candidate from there. Dev made a faux pas by making an off-the-cuff remark on rape and later had to apologize for that. Sorcar (Jr), too, landed himself in a soup with a comment. Ironically, after the rebellion of sitting Trinamool M. P. from Jadavpur Kabir Suman, a noted singer, Mamata Banerjee had vowed to depend in future only on her trusted band of professional politicians in the party.