Bengalis love football. Chances are that almost every Bengali you run into in Kolkata and other parts of West Bengal is either a diehard Mohun Bagan or East Bengal football club fan. And Bengal’s politicians have never shied away from using football as a means to make their way into the heart of a Bengali for votes.
The CPI(M) did it by controlling the many ‘para’ or local football clubs. And the Trinamool Congress too did it when, just ahead of the 2021 state polls, Mamata Banerjee announced sops like more funds, to help East Bengal Club into the Indian Super League (ISL). The Bharatiya Janata Party too was drawn into this game with state incharge Kailash Vijayvargiya promising these clubs, many of them starved of funds, a good deal.
In sync with this, the winning slogan for the TMC in the April-May assembly polls became ‘Khela Hobe’ (game on). Trinamool is now using this slogan inside Parliament as well, and as the slogan for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. And with Khela Hobe comes football. So when Mamata Banerjee got injured during campaigning in Nandigram, TMC MPs and MLAs promptly put up a poster with her fractured foot on a football and the catchphrase Khela Hobe. Debangshu Bhattacharya, Trinamool leader, who coined the Khela Hobe song that has caught on, says, “Bengal showed khela hua (the game happened). It will happen now in 2024. The football will give takkar (competition) to divisive policies of the BJP.”
Mamata Banerjee now plans to use Khela Hobe and the popular football to score a goal in 2024. While inaugurating an event in Kolkata where footballs were distributed, she said, “Ami kintu ball khelte paari (I know how to play with the ball).” It was as much a message to the divided opposition as to the BJP.
First, it was to convince the opposition that she can make the game happen and win. Not everyone may be convinced. While acknowledging that she had won the big battle and scored a point, for a woman who is not from the Hindi heartland and who may not yet have a grip on the many manipulations of the politics here, the game may not be easy. Which is why at a press meet in Delhi, she reached out to the ambitious opposition leaders by saying, “Not everyone has to become the leader. I am happy in my home in Bengal. I want everyone to come together and work on this.”
But the shrewd politician that Mamata is, she is certainly not going to keep herself out of the game. She won’t let the other opposition parties forget the fact that she was the giant-killer of Bengal and that she can deliver again. So, at the event in Kolkata, she also made the point that Khela Hobe was resonating in Parliament and shaking the government.
To the BJP, her message is that she can do it in 2024 and that she should not be dismissed lightly. Which is why she parked herself in Delhi for three days, meeting Sonia Gandhi and other opposition leaders. She raised the Pegasus snooping issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well. And now she is taking on the BJP in Tripura as part of her Mission Northeast. While elections in the state are in 2023, she has begun the game early with Abhishek Banerjee taking charge. It could be his first litmus test as a leader.
Coming back to football, sources say Mamata is likely to use the sport and Khela Hobe as a weapon, like PM Modi did in 2014 with his Chai Pe Charcha (Talks over tea) campaign. The taunts directed at Modi as a chaiwallah (tea seller) gave the BJP a winning slogan and an image that here was someone who was not a dynast, was not entitled, and was a humble chaiwallah. Sources say Mamata plans to use football and travel across the country to ensure the opposition comes together. The ball will be distributed and passed on to make this point. While on August 16 she will celebrate Khela Diwas to commemorate those football players who died in a derby match in the 1980s, the day could kick-start her renewed attempts for opposition unity. TMC supporters have been asked to make the Khela Hobe slogan popular and spread it across the country, especially where the BJP is strong. There are plans to distribute footballs in upcoming state polls to make the point that Khela Hobe, and it can happen. But it’s not an easy field for the opposition. The first test case will be Uttar Pradesh. And if the opposition scores a goal against the BJP there, then the game may be on.
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