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Amid a thronging crowd, with some people requesting selfies and others showering flower petals, actress-turned-politician Rachana Banerjee hit the campaign trail on a sizzling Thursday morning, with temperature hovering around 34°C and humidity over 91%.
Waving at the crowd from an open jeep, Rachana was welcomed by a group of young women. The 1990s film star whose popularity soared as she transitioned to the small screen as the anchor of the reality TV show “Didi No. 1” on a Bengali channel, is the latest in a long line of celebrities who have been parachuted into electoral politics by the Trinamool Congress (TMC).
The TMC has fielded Rachana from the Hooghly constituency in the Lok Sabha polls. Following a carefully laid-out plan by local TMC leaders and workers, the former Miss Kolkata with an infectious smile began her campaign from the Pakhri Siddheshwari Mata Mandir in the Sikhira Champta gram panchayat under Pandua block, winding her way to the Ilsoba Daspur gram panchayat.
“Now that I have taken up the responsibility, I will give my 100%. Until yesterday, I was shooting for my TV show. But here I am now, campaigning today. It is tough but not impossible,” Rachana told The Indian Express as she kept wiping her sweat with a handkerchief. Amid back-to-back campaigns, rallies and meetings, she finally found some respite in the afternoon, as she took a break for lunch with her party workers.
“I am very happy with the response I am getting. Everyone is welcoming me with open arms,” she said. Draped in a handloom sari, she drew crowds wherever she went seeking votes.
“I couldn’t believe I was seeing her in my village. I have only seen her on TV. Even yesterday, I saw her on TV. Today, she is here and I’m so excited,” said Sujata Murmu of the Sikhira Champta gram panchayat with a wide smile on her face, as she showed her selfie with Ranchana in her phone gallery.
“Didi No 1 is my favourite show, Rachana Banerjee has always stood for women. She inspires women in her shows. I want her to win,” said Madhavi Pandit, another local resident.
Insiders say the TMC is banking on a “tried and tested formula” of fielding celebrities, by giving Rachana the ticket. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, actresses Nusrat Jahan and Mimi Chakraborty — whom the party had fielded from Basirhat and Jadavpur, respectively — had won their seats by margins running into several lakhs each. Other film stars the TMC has sent to the Lok Sabha in the past include Deepak Adhikari, popularly known as Dev, Satabdi Roy and Moonmoon Sen.
The Hooghly constituency is crucial for the TMC, politically and symbolically, as it includes the Singur Assembly segment — where the anti-land acquisition movement that turned the political fortunes of party supremo Mamata Banerjee had begun during the previous Left Front regime. Chief Minister Banerjee is popularly known as “Didi” in West Bengal.
But the seat is currently in the BJP’s grip, held by Locket Chatterjee, herself an actress with whom Rachana had acted in many Tollywood movies. Across films like Mayer Anchol, Paribar, Agni, Tyag, etc, they have played roles of best friends as well as arch rivals. This time, though, their fight would not be restricted to the screen.
“I have known Rachana for a long time, as we have acted together in movies. But this fight is not between Rachana and Locket. It is between Mamata and Modi, where Modi will win the fight,” said a combative Locket.
The incumbent MP added, “We’ve all seen what happened to Nusrat and Mimi. Their careers were finished. I have been doing politics for 10 years now. She (Rachana) should have first worked on the ground. She should have visited Sandeshkhali. It seems she has come to enjoy a vacation, and after two months, she will go back to the Didi No. 1 sets.”
Locket won the Hooghly seat in 2019 riding a Modi wave in which the BJP had bagged 18 seats out of the state’s 42 as against the TMC’s 22. She had then defeated the TMC’s Ratna De by over 73,000 votes.
However, when she was fielded from the Chuchura Assembly segment in Hooghly in the 2021 state polls, she lost to the TMC’s Asit Majumdar by over 18,000 votes.
The 2019 elections witnessed a significant power shift in the Hooghly district, which was a Communist stronghold for decades until the TMC wrested it in 2009. Even though in 2019 the TMC won the district’s two other Lok Sabha seats, Arambagh and Sreerampur, the BJP’s victory in the Hooghly seat, situated near Kolkata, appeared impressive as the party overtook the Left Front to become the main Opposition in the state.
As for the upcoming fight, many Hooghly voters believe the BJP MP would face a tough challenge from the Didi No.1 host.
“Both candidates are popular faces, and have a 50-50 chance. In Lok Sabha elections, the Modi factor plays a part. BJP will try to encash that, while the TMC will bank on the popularity of Didi No 1,” said Munna Chowdhury, a local resident, in Bhadreshwar area.
