Derek O’Brien, Saket Gokhale among TMC faces for Rajya Sabha as Mamata keeps focus on Muslims, north Bengal

The TMC’s national spokesperson Saket Gokhale, its Alipurduar district president Prakash Chik Baraik and president of the civil society organisation Bangla Sanskriti Mancha, Samirul Islam, will be its new Rajya Sabha candidates.

“I’m extremely grateful to my leaders @MamataOfficial & @abhishekaitc for fielding me as a candidate for election as Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha. I’m overwhelmed by their faith in me & for giving this opportunity to a young middle-class boy who comes from a non-political background,” Gokhale said in a tweet, after the party made the announcement.

“I promise to give my all & everything to be an effective public representative & lawmaker & to stand up steadfastly for our democracy & Constitution,” he added.

I’m extremely grateful to my leaders @MamataOfficial & @abhishekaitc for fielding me as a candidate for election as Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha.

I’m overwhelmed by their faith in me & for giving this opportunity to a young middle-class boy who comes from a non-political… https://t.co/q13h9F79up

— Saket Gokhale (@SaketGokhale) July 10, 2023

Speaking to The Indian Express, Samirul Islam said he was delighted to be considered as a TMC candidate for the Rajya Sabha. “This is a big honour. I am very happy. It means I have to shoulder more responsibilities now. The nomination process has begun for RS seats from West Bengal. Right now, I will be focusing on this,” Islam said. He added that the party had a talk with him before finalising his name.

His outfit, Bangla Sanskriti Mancha, enjoys huge support among rural Bengal communities, especially the minorities in the districts of Birbhum, Murshidabad, Malda, East and West Burdwan and Hooghly.

Sources in the TMC said the induction of new faces has political significance. By nominating Prakash Chik Baraik, the party is trying to reassure its support for the people of north Bengal, where the party has fared poorly in recent polls. Baraik hails from Alipurduar district in north Bengal.

By nominating Samirul Islam, the TMC has made an attempt to win back the support of the minorities, a section of which the ruling party appears to have alienated since the 2021 Assembly polls. Earlier this year, the TMC had lost an Assembly bypoll in the minority-dominated Sagardighi constituency of Murshidabad district.

The party’s loss of support among minorities has been hastened by the rise of ISF MLA Naushad Siddiqui, who has been putting up a fight against the TMC in South 24 Parganas district.

The nomination of Gokhale is significant as he came under spotlight following his arrest over a tweet in December last year over the Morbi bridge collapse, and subsequently over alleged embezzlement of crowdfunded resources.

“On the one hand, the party has reposed faith in its senior parliamentarians who have been instrumental in putting up a brave fight in the Rajya Sabha against this BJP government. On the other hand, the party has also reached out to newcomers and given them the opportunity to represent the people in the Upper House,” said a TMC leader on condition of anonymity.

Given the current composition of the Bengal Assembly, the TMC with 220 seats is assured of winning five RS seats uncontested. There will be a contest for the sixth seat, on which the BJP, which has 70 seats (down from 77 it had won in 2021), is expected to field its candidate and give a tough fight.