Nothing warms a Bengali’s heart more than when told that they are special and that no one comes close to their culture. So, it’s not surprising that faced with a belligerent BJP, the Trinamool Congress wants to hit the chord by pitching a campaign for ‘Amra Bangali’, i.e., ‘We are Bengalis’. The purpose behind this invocation of Bengali pride is to project the BJP as a party of outsiders headed by the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah duo who are not Bengalis and, hence, don’t understand Bengali culture.
And now Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the just-appointed Congress chief for Bengal, has gone a step further in the hope that his party will be a contender in next year’s assembly polls. He has waded into the Sushant Singh Rajput-Rhea Chakraborty case and played the “Rhea is a Bengali-Brahmin” card. At a press conference, he said, “The BJP is doing politics over Sushant ahead of Bihar elections. But Rhea, who is a Bengali-Brahmin, is being targeted ”
Those in the Congress who want to stay away from this Sushant-Rhea issue may not be happy with what Adhir said, but the fact remains that he perhaps has little choice. The Congress has been left far behind in Bengal with the BJP now being the main adversary to the state’s ruling Trinamool Congress. And the Congress-Left combine is barely strong enough to take on both the BJP and TMC. Adhir has a tough task ahead and, therefore, doesn’t want to leave any issue out. Interestingly, while the BJP has played the ‘Bihar card’ in Sushant’s name, it has refrained from turning Rhea into a Bengali card ahead of the Bengal polls. What’s even more interesting is that even the Trinamool has preferred to stay away from this issue and has not jumped to the defence of Rhea. As a source said, “Bollywood and its affairs can be dirty and if we wade into it, it’s going to spill on us.” This is why the TMC will use its ‘Bengali pride’ campaign with party chief Mamata Banerjee as the mascot, in a bid to project her as what a ‘proud Bengal’ stands for. So we have Mamata Banerjee criss-crossing the state, speaking about Bengal’s history, culture and also Rabindra Sangeet,
The Congress has no leader or face who can match up to Mamata. And this perhaps explains why Adhir used the Rhea factor in a bid to portray that when others don’t stand up for their own, the Congress does. He took the cue from political parties of Bihar who, ahead of the polls this year, have pitched for ‘son of the soil’ Sushant Singh Rajput. In fact, even the Congress in Bihar had demanded a CBI inquiry into the actor’s death. But in Bengal, Rhea was kept at an arm’s length; till Adhir jumped in. It may not help the Congress at all. In fact, it could backfire. Winning elections needs a strong organisation. something which the Congress has neglected.
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