Vishal Shrestha. Mithun Chakraborty ‘Aami Bengali, Aami Gurbito Aami Bengali …’ (I am Bengali. I am proud of the fact that I am Bengali …). This dialogue of Mithun Chakraborty, a disco dancer who plays a typical middle-class Bengali named Devabrata Bose in the famous Bengali film Aami Subhash Bolchi (I am speaking Subhash), released over a decade ago, is still on every Bengali tongue.
This film, directed by Bollywood’s famous director Mahesh Manjrekar, tried to reconnect Bengalis who were moving away from the ideals of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. Who could have done better than Mithun to do justice to this character, who has been representing Bengalis in the country and the world for the last four and a half decades.
‘Insider vs outsider’ is a big issue in Bengal politics at this time. All the leaders from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to Trinamool Congress are calling BJP a party of Gujarat. Mamta was not averse to calling PM Modi as an outsider. In such a situation, it is necessary for the BJP to eradicate the stamp of outsider on itself to conquer Bengal. For this, the saffron party needed such a ‘larger than life’ Bengali face so that it could immediately connect itself to the Bengali public.
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Who could have been better than the disco dancer Mithun for this. As soon as 70-year-old Mithun joined the BJP at the rally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata on Sunday, he has got a big hand to make inroads in Bengalis. There is no doubt that the people of Bengal have deep feelings for Mithun. It remains to be seen whether the BJP is able to capitalize on this or not.
Mithun Chakraborty was presented on the platform of Modi with complete strategy
Reliable sources in the BJP said that Mithun was presented on the platform of PM Modi with complete strategy. Mithun arrived at the rally wearing a traditional Bangla dhoti-kurta. Before PM Modi’s arrival, he was inducted into the party, then he was greeted by the Prime Minister at his hands. PM Modi’s address to Mithun as ‘Banglar Chhele’ was also part of the strategy to connect with the sentiments of the people of Bengal. Mithun also said in his address to eliminate the issue of ‘outsider’ – ‘I believe that every person living in Bengal is Bengali because they grew up here. They have the right over everything here and who will try to take away their rights, then people like me will stand against it. ‘
So will Mithun Da contest from the Addasanko seat?
After joining the BJP, Mithun Da did not say anything directly about contesting the assembly elections, but definitely gave indications about it. In his address, the way he mentioned the street in Jolabaghan police station area of Kolkata, where he had spent his childhood, it is expected that he will contest from the same Jodasanko seat. Mithun is also the local boy there.
First Left Front, then Trinamool, now BJP
Mithun was initially a supporter of leftist ideology. He had deep ties with the late CPI (M) leader Subhash Chakraborty. Mithun was also seen in several programs along with former Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu. In 2014, he joined the Trinamool Congress and was nominated as a Rajya Sabha member on a party ticket. Mithun was disillusioned with the Trinamool after he was named in the Rosavalli chit fund scam and in 2016 he resigned from the Rajya Sabha. After this, he was away from the limelight for some time. There were also reports of his becoming ill. The day before, when Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat visited Mithun’s house in Mumbai, there were speculations about his joining the BJP, which turned out to be true on Sunday.
