Star contestants set the pitch for Asansol South

Asansol: Her red veil — received during one of the temple visits — can’t be ignored during the campaign trail of Asansol South’s BJP candidate Agnimitra Paul. Bright red sindoor in her parting, a big bindi, red and white conch bangles, white flowers adorning her bun — Agnimitra’s new avatar as Asansol’s ‘bhumikanya’ is a far cry from her fashion designer image.Dhaak beats and loud chants of ‘Jai Sri Ram’ welcome her Toto as it enters Dhenua — one of the villages close to the Damodar river.
Her opponent, TMC’s Saayoni Ghosh, had visited the same village earlier. The linen sari-clad firebrand Tollywood actress resembles her girl-next-door characters from her movies. No Toto. No dhaakis. ‘Jai Bangla’ and “Bolchhe Aambaganer janata, songe aache Mamata” chants rent the air as she runs down narrow, serpentine bylanes of Rambandh, while her supporters try hard to keep pace with her stride.
A tough contest is on the cards this time when Asansol South, which was one of the constituencies from which BJP’s Babul Supriyo won the Lok Sabha elections in 2014 and 2019, goes to polls on April 26. In 2016, Tapas Banerjee of TMC had won from this Assembly seat upstaging CPIM’s Hemant Prabhakar by a margin of 14,283 votes. In 2011, Banerjee had won by defeating Ashok Kumar Mukherjee of CPI(M).
Both first-time celeb contestants, who are pitted against Sanjukta Morcha (CPIM) candidate Prashanta Ghosh this time, say they will address the water crisis if voted to office in this industrial belt. “Some areas have no access to water for days. There are no washrooms. People have complained about clogged drains. Roads are bad. In some stretches, we have to use our mobile torches on our evening campaigns. My advantage is that no work has been done at the ground level. Our brilliant manifesto is working in our favour,” Agnimitra claimed.
Saayoni, too, wants to address the water woes. “Geographically, there is a problem in pumping water here. Our two-time sitting MLA, Tapas Banerjee, has done quite a bit. Development is a continuous process and I will complete what remains to be done,” she said, relying on her “organic people’s skills” and “positivity” to reach her voters. “I don’t think my opponent has that skill. I’m glad that people here appreciate my films, too,” she said. That connect is evident when she gets mobbed by selfie-seekers.
Agnimitra is more restrained. “Padmo phul-e... Modijike vote deben,” she said. “My supporters requested me to wear the veil since only a lucky few get them from the temples,” she added.
Her biggest advantage, Agnimitra believes, is her “bhumikanya” tag while Saayoni is an “outsider”. Her physician father, Ashok Roy, had joined her campaign in the toto. “Even my teacher from Asansol’s Loreto Convent, Madhumita Chatterjee ma’am, joined me on a day I campaigned on foot,” said Agnimitra. The dhakis on her roadshow are voters of Dhenua. “We were out of work during the lockdown. It felt good when we came to know that she is from Asansol,” said dhaaki Shibram Baidyakar, who is earning Rs 700 per day at her road show.
Yet, Saayoni isn’t giving much importance to the “bhumikanya” card. She happily poses beside a wall graffiti reading: “Jotoi naro kolkathi, Nabanne abar hawai chhoti”. “A true bhumikanya doesn’t need to highlight ‘amar baba ekhankar doctor’ during a campaign! Shouldn’t the voters already know that? People will find more transparency in me than any bhumikanya or bhumiputro. I have no lobby. I am here to carry forward didi’s developmental work,” Saayoni said.
Incidentally, Saayoni was campaigning in Dhenua the day Agnimitra made her controversial comment about her opening a “condom shop” after May 2. “I couldn’t believe my ears. Agni-di was the first one to send an appreciative message when I did ‘Ekla Cholo’ on a single mother,” Saayoni said. Things changed during this poll battle. “I’m 28 now but she had initially dismissed me as just a ‘kid’. Now, she is saying obnoxious things about me. She has lost her balance a bit,” Saayoni alleged. However, she acknowledged that Agnimitra had protested and texted her when BJP MP Soumitra Khan had called her a “sex-worker”. “But her text didn’t compensate the damage done. Now, she is doing smear campaigns and posting old clips of me being vocal against didi. I have maintained that I had said whatever I felt right at that time and will say whatever I think is right now. It is my democratic power. But unlike her own party members who harassed me for a six-year-old tweet that I was not even party to, Mamata Banerjee has not gone after me for once speaking against her,” Saayoni clarified.
During her Dhenua campaign, Agnimitra doesn’t want to comment on the “condom shop” controversy. “In June, I will complete a year as the head of the Mohila Morcha. Saayoni is too immature to be in politics. She has insulted Hindutwa. She might now give alibis to defend herself but people won’t forgive her. Her actions are both childish and childlike,” Agnimitra claimed.
Such talk doesn’t impact Saayoni. “Agni-di has taken on a ‘sadhvi-type’ getup all complete with veil and sindoor. I don’t even remember her wearing sindoor this way earlier. She was a designer and not a sadhvi all her life. Instead of her ‘serious’ and ‘somber’ image that keeps her distant from people, I will prefer being ‘childlike’ and ‘childish’ to get closer. I see no reflection of her smear campaign when I go to meet people at their doorsteps,” she assured.