Place: Calcutta’s Brigade Parade Ground, known for its amphitheatrical ethos, with a tradition of mighty political grandstanding, on March 7. Dramatis personae: PM Narendra Modi, other top BJP leaders and Mithun Chakraborty. Audience: Tens of thousands of BJP supporters. “I know you are waiting to hear that dialogue from me…maarbo ekhaney, lash porbey shmashaney (I’ll hit you here and you’ll land in the burning ghat)…that will continue, but I am giving you a new one now,” Mithun Chakraborty said. “Do remember this dialogue,” he continued after a pause. “I am summing up all that the senior leaders said so long…and the dialogue reflects me, Mithun Chakraborty. I do what I say. Ami Joldhora-o Noi, Balibora-o noi, ami jaat gokhro. Ek chhobolei chhobi. Hya, ebar etai hobe Banglay.” That bloodcurdling line means, “I am neither Joldhora nor Balibora (non-venomous snakes); I am the real cobra. Just one bite and you’ll become a photograph. Yes, that’s what going to happen in Bengal this time.” The crowd burst into wild cheers. The presence of the ever-popular Mithun—clad in the traditional Bengali attire of dhuti-panjabi (kurta)—in the high-profile rally was touted as its prime attraction.
A few minutes after Chakraborty’s cinematic delivery, PM Modi’s speech revealed what triggered the BJP’s enthusiasm over getting Chakraborty to their fold. “Today, we have Bengal’s son Mithun Chakraborty with us,” Modi said, clearly attempting to counter Trinamool Congress’s campaign branding chief minister Mamata Banerjee as ‘Bengal’s own daughter’.
The TMC has pegged the election as one between Bengali and bohiragoto, or ‘outsiders’; Mamata has vowed that outsiders will not rule Bengal. Desperately seeking a suitable riposte, the BJP has been looking for credible Bengali faces, ideally icons from different walks of life. In Mithun they have found their man.
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Is Mithun Chakraborty the party’s chief ministerial candidate then? After the rally, Mithun told journalists that he would not rule out contesting the elections. “Who knows in which way things unfold?” he mused.
Sources in the BJP indicated that the central leadership wanted Mithun to contest the elections but, as of March 16, nothing had been finalised. To be a candidate, Mithun will have to become a voter in Bengal by March 31, when notification for the final round of the eight-phase polls will be issued.
“As of now, the party has not considered him as a probable CM candidate. The party has other names in mind. However, it definitely wants him to play a big role in the campaign,” says a senior BJP leader.
The pull that Mithun has over Bengalis is, however, impressive. One of the most versatile actors of his generation, the 71-year-old has acted in critically acclaimed arthouse films, and in cringe-pop B-grade movies, besides being a top Bollywood star for long. In Bengali and Hindi movies, impossible acts of heroics and cracking dialogues have made him a legend. Revered for his philanthropic and charity shows in Bengal, especially campaigns for thalassemia awareness and blood donation, Mithun has hosted popular dance shows on Bengali television in recent years. His high ethical standards are known too—he was India’s highest tax payer at one time.
Following his joining the BJP, senior TMC leader and Mamata confidant Firhad Hakim put in a snide one: “He is as versatile in politics as in acting.” It was a reference to Mithun’s previous stints with politics. Mithun, linked with the Naxalite movement in the 1970s, later became close to the CPI(M) and campaigned for them during the Left Front regime. After Mamata came to power, he became close to her, campaigned for the TMC and went on to become a Rajya Sabha member in 2014.
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However, late that year, his name got dragged into the Saradha chit fund scam after the Enforcement Directorate sent him summons for his involvement with the tainted group of companies. He clarified that payments he received from Saradha were in his professional capacity. Nonetheless, he returned Rs 1.19 crore to the ED in 2015; in December 2016, he resigned from the Rajya Sabha and distanced himself from the TMC.
For such a punctilious man, was it anger at the TMC—for dragging him into a financial scam—that birthed the now-famous ‘cobra’ line? Mithun himself has refused to comment on the Trinamool. “I don’t want to blame or attack anyone. It was my mistake, my bad decision,” he told journalists. Over the next few days, in interviews to TV channels, he never attacked or spoke against the Left or the TMC.
The closest he came to criticising the Mamata Banerjee regime was that the state was in a complete mess and required a total overhaul. About Modi, of course, he had an admiring line: “You have to appreciate the constant efforts at improving.”
But the interviews, while displaying political courtesy towards adversaries rare for the modern politician, also revealed Mithun’s lack of understanding of real political issues.
During one interview, he repeatedly ducked all questions on policies and politics, could cite no particular reason why he joined the BJP, or why the Trinamool government needed to be replaced. He could not even elaborate what ‘Sonar Bangla’—PM Modi’s ultimate poll promise of a golden Bengal—would look like. All he could muster was that he wanted to work for the poor, needed support for that and that the BJP will give him that support.
The one political issue on which he commented was the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. “Every state should implement a central legislation passed by Parliament. They are duty-bound to do that,” said Mithun.
Can someone like this—evidently clueless about most things that matter in an election—be an effective electoral face? More importantly, can someone who is reluctant to target Mamata have any impact, apart from drawing a crowd? Vetertan TMC MP Sougata Roy dismissed him as “an icon of bygone eras”.
The BJP camp is hopeful. “Here is one of the most successful Bengalis calling for a change in Bengal. Why shouldn’t it have an impact?” asked BJP state unit president Dilip Ghosh.
Perhaps filmy dialogues do work. The TMC not only used Mithun’s services extensively, Mamata herself has partaken of a variation of the Maarbo Ekhaney, Lash Porbey Shmashaney dialogue on numerous occasions. Ghosh, too, has taken to the dialogue from the hit Bengali movie MLA Fatakeshto.
On social media, however, Mithun’s “cobra” lines have earned him a great deal of criticism. It also generated a stream of memes, highlighting his political affiliations and choice of filmy dialogues. Political graffiti—that time-tested bellwether of Bengal politics—are busy too. A TMC graffiti in Burdwan district advise people to keep carbolic acid at home for protection against “a self-proclaimed venomous snake”.
The filmstar was yet to start his campaign. We will soon find out if Mithun’s bite will paralyse the TMC or whether he remains a ‘harmless snake’. On the day he joined the BJP, Mithun told the media, “Picture abhi baaki hai”. A poisonous snake, remember, has enough twists in its unpredictable course.
