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Journalism of Courage
AS BATSMAN, skipper, BCCI president or commentator, Sourav Ganguly thrived on unfriendly pitches. The presumed Prince of Kolkata’s presumptive political project, however, is taking longer to find its feet – with the latest development putting him in Team Trinamool Congress.
On Tuesday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee named Ganguly as the state’s Brand Ambassador, replacing megastar Shah Rukh Khan. The announcement, at the TMC government’s Global Business Summit gala, came two months after Ganguly accompanied the CM on a rare foreign visit by her, as a precursor to the summit and to draw investment to Bengal.
And it came just over a year after a reluctant Ganguly was replaced as BCCI president with Roger Binny, in an organisation where the shots are seen as called by Secretary Jay Shah, the son of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Go further back, to before the 2021 Assembly polls, and Ganguly was seen as not just in the BJP camp but also a possible CM face of the party. The BJP’s high-decibel campaign had talked up the party’s chances in the elections, though these were swept by the TMC eventually.
The rumours of Ganguly’s proximity to the BJP top brass at the time had grown after photographs emerged of him hosting Shah along with senior state BJP leaders Suvendu Adhikari and Sukanta Majumder for a meal at his home.
Days later though, Ganguly was by the side of Mamata at the State Secretariat. In September 2022, he shared the stage with her at a thanksgiving ceremony after Bengal got the UNESCO heritage tag for Durga Puja.
But it was the end of Ganguly’s BCCI tenure in October 2022 that was the firmest hint that the bonhomie between the cricketer and BJP may have ended.
After his appointment as Bengal brand ambassador Tuesday, BJP leaders openly speculated that Mamata had made her move for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls by co-opting arguably Bengal’s biggest sporting star.
Addressing Ganguly, who was seated on the dais, the CM said at the business summit: “He is a very popular figure and comes from a younger generation. I want to inform him that he is now the brand ambassador of Bengal. I will request him to accept this… You can’t say no.”
The former India cricket captain had earlier been as full of praise for the CM in his speech at the programme. “I say this genuinely, whenever I send her (Mamata) an SMS, I get a response within a minute. Rarely is there a delay. Whenever she watches me on television, she sends an SMS, asking how I am and whether I have eaten. I am so touched with the care and affection you have shown me,” Ganguly said.
Asked about what he thought of their exchange, BJP national vice-president and former Bengal chief Dilip Ghosh said Wednesday: “It has taken so long for the Bengal government and TMC to give recognition to Sourav Ganguly… He has done so much for Bengal and Bengal cricket. (Now) Keeping the 2024 (Lok Sabha polls) in mind, she (Mamata) wants to hold Sourav’s hand… She wants to use him for 2024… Shah Rukh Khan’s market is down.”
The BJP, in contrast, has always acknowledged Ganguly’s role as an “icon”, Ghosh said. “He was given the honour of brand ambassador by Tripura (a BJP-ruled state) much before… The BJP made him BCCI president. The BJP used him in cricket, not politics.”
TMC leader Jay Prakash Majumder told The Indian Express that the BJP’s reaction again showed that “anything concerning the development of Bengal, benefit of Bengal makes the BJP, especially the Bengal BJP, unhappy”. “The poor are suffering because of the economic blockade by the Centre (referring to the Centre blocking state funds for some schemes over alleged irregularities). Sourav Ganguly, the pride of Bengal, whose face is known to the world and not just India, is made the brand ambassador of the state. And the BJP says, ‘why so late’ or ‘why Sourav’. This shows the lack of value-based politics by the BJP.”
About whether the Ganguly-Mamata warmth hinted that he was ready for his long-awaited political plunge, Ghosh said: “It is for Ganguly to decide whether he will join politics or not.”
A senior TMC leader said: “The CPI(M) first tried to rope him in. A few years back, the BJP tried to rope him in. Now, it is a great move by Mamata Banerjee to make him the brand ambassador. Who knows what will happen next? It all depends on Ganguly.”
Before the 2021 Assembly polls, he was said to have declined a BJP proposal for direct entry into politics.
After his visit to Spain and the UAE in Spain in September, Ganguly insisted to mediapersons that he has no political affiliations. “I am an individual, I am not an MLA, MP. I don’t have any political attachment. I get invited across the world, Spain, Kolkata, Delhi. I am not answerable to anybody. We are humans and we interact with people,” he said.
However, as Ganguly hangs around Bengal’s political circles, the rumours – which have now been around for 17 years – are hardly likely to die down soon.
Back then, in 2006, when he was two years from retirement and still trying to make a comeback to the national team, Ganguly had denied any plans to campaign for the CPI(M), then the long-running ruling party of Bengal.
