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“Khamosh”: Actor Shatrughan Sinha adds flavor to Bengal Lok Sabhaby-poll
Shatrughan Sinha. 76, is the TMC candidate from Asansol in West Burdwan district, which was vacated by former union minister Babul Supriyo after he joined the TMC last year.
KOLKATA: “Khamosh” (keep quiet), the signature dialogue of Shatrughan Sinha that made the actor a darling of commercial Hindi movie fans, resonated in political rhetoric as the actor-politician entered the race for the Trinamool Congress (TMC) for the April 12 by-poll from Bengal’s Asansol Lok Sabha seat.
Pressed by fans to utter the word in his iconic baritone voice upon arrival at Asansol on Sunday night, Sinha said: “Khamosh… Those who oppose Mamata Banerjee’s ideology will now become silent.”
As Sinha, accompanied by wife Poonam and an army of TMC supporters, filed his nomination papers on Monday afternoon, the BJP candidate and legislator from the Asansol South assembly seat, Agnimitra Paul, said: “He may say ‘Khamosh’ but that will not silence voters resiliently standing against the TMC’s politics of violence.”
The Asansol Lok Sabha seat in West Burdwan district was vacated by former union minister Babul Supriyo after he joined the TMC in September last year. The popular Hindi playback singer-turned politician won the seat twice since 2014 when Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister for the first time.
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“I know many people in Asansol. I am no stranger here. Mamata Banerjee invited me contest. She is the tigress of Bengal. We are all here to fight for her and create history,” said Sinha, 76, who has been a member of both Houses of Parliament and a minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government.
TMC leaders said Sinha was chosen for the Asansol seat because a sizeable chunk of the local voters comprise Hindi-speaking people and migrants from Bihar, Sinha’s home state.
Supriyo, who left the BJP after being dropped from the government last year, is contesting south Kolkata’s Ballygunge assembly seat that fell vacant after the death of minister Subrata Mukherjee in November.
Supriyo also filed his nomination papers on Monday. “I had a long talk with Sinha over phone. I will certainly visit Asansol and campaign with him,” he said.
Mamata Banerjee has become the target of the BJP for fielding Sinha because she bracketed Hindi-speaking BJP leaders as “outsiders” in Bengal during the assembly polls last year.
Popularly called ‘Bihari Babu’ (gentleman from Bihar) across India, Sinha’s name was announced on March 13 by the Bengal chief minister.
Within hours of that announcement, Amit Malviya, head of the BJP’s national information technology cell and co-in-charge of the Bengal unit tagged Sinha as an outsider.
“It was widely speculated that TMC would field Saayoni Ghosh, president of party’s youth wing, considered close to Abhishek Banerjee, from Asansol. But Mamata Banerjee, just to cut her nephew to size has fielded a complete outsider, not just for Asansol but Bengal, from the seat,” tweeted Malviya.
Saayoni Ghosh reacted but followed Sinha’s footsteps.
“Khamosh,” Ghosh wrote on Twitter in reply to Malviya’s comment.
