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Alleged hate remarks by actor-turned-politician Mithun Chakraborty have heated the political atmosphere in West Bengal ahead of bypolls to six Assembly seats on November 13.
Speaking at the launch of the BJP membership drive in Kolkata on October 27, in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Chakraborty said that the party was ready “for anything” for power in West Bengal, and went on to make veiled threats towards Muslims.
The bypolls are scheduled in Sitai, Madarihat, Naihati, Haroa, Medinipur and Taldangra. In the 2021 Assembly elections, five of these seats were won by the ruling Trinamool Congress, with the BJP winning Madarihat.
Felicitated with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award by the Centre recently, Chakraborty said: “In 2026 (the next Assembly elections), the masnad (throne) will be ours (the BJP’s) and we will do everything to achieve the goal… Kuchch bhi karenge, kuchch bhi. Main Home Minister sahab ke saamne bol raha hoon. Kuchch bhi ke andar bahut sara matlab chupa hua hai (We will do anything… anything. I am saying this in front of the Home Minister. There is a lot that is unsaid in ‘anything’). I have seen a lot of politics, violent, bloody politics.”
The TMC-turned-BJP leader then went on to refer to a statement by senior TMC leader Humayun Kabir in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections. Kabir, who was censured by the Election Commission for his remarks, had said: “If I do not throw you in the Bhagirathi (river) within two hours, I will leave politics. You are 30%, but we are 70%… If you think you can demolish mosques and Muslims will sit back and relax, you are mistaken.”
Referring to the same, Chakraborty said: “He said that 70% of the population here is Muslim, and 30% Hindu… Tum kaat ke Bhagirathi mein phenk doge, par ek din aisa aayega jab ham kaat ke Bhagirathi me nahin… kyunki Bhagirathi hamari maa hai… tumko tumhari zameen ke andar fekenge, udhar (If you throw in the Bhagirathi, we will also one day… not in the Bhagirathi because it is our mother… but we will bury you on the other side).”
Warning the TMC, he said: “We need such workers who can fight head-on. We need such workers who can challenge, ‘Come, fire at me, show how many bullets you have in your gun’. Aap hamare jhaad ka ek fal todoge toh hum aapke jhaad ka char fal tod denge (If you pluck one fruit from our tree, we will pluck four).”
Apart from Shah, BJP Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari and its West Bengal chief Sukanta Majumdar were present at the event, along with party workers.
TMC state vice-president Jay Prakash Majumdar said Chakraborty’s remarks show that he is “an immature political leader”, a far cry from his “personality as an actor”. “There is a vast difference between the two personalities. He (Chakraborty) seems to be reading film scripts on political platforms, which is highly condemnable, ” Majumdar said, adding that the BJP should ponder as what Chakraborty said was against the Constitution.
It is not the first time Chakraborty has found himself in a row over his remarks. In the 2021 Assembly polls, his speeches drawing on two popular filmy dialogues of his had led to the lodging of an FIR against him. He had said: “Don’t mistake me for a harmless snake, I am a cobra. I can kill people in one bite.”
While Chakraborty could not be contacted despite repeated attempts, a BJP leader said that the actor, who has little role in the BJP besides that of a star campaigner, sometimes goes overboard “trying to portray his aggressive side”. “That day (October 27), he was trying to motivate party workers ahead of the bypolls and got a little carried away.” He said that the TMC itself never shies away from “appeasement politics”, and hence had no leg to stand on.
Humayun Kabir told The Indian Express that what he said during the Lok Sabha campaign was a response to a speech made by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Yogi Adityanath days earlier.
Accusing Adityanath of stirring tension in an area where peace had just been restored following Ram Navami violence, Kabir said: “I was targeted by BJP leaders for what I said. But I stand by it since I was reacting to a speech by their leader. Now, after so many months, BJP leaders are again trying to get political benefit from this. They must remember that I have all the right to do the same. I won’t mind speaking the same (language) for political benefit, if they don’t… I will do everything to stand by my people.”
Kabir added that the BJP’s hopes of capturing power in Bengal were a pipedream. “One would need another birth to get the CM’s throne in Bengal. I will do everything to support our CM (Mamata Banerjee).”
