Kolkata: Lights, camera, Mithun! A packed BJP headquarters in Kolkata welcomed superstar Mithun Chakraborty Monday amid roaring slogans. The enthusiasm, which had perhaps been missing since the party’s loss in last year’s assembly elections, was palpable.
The guard stationed outside the compact BJP headquarters, nestled in a congested bylane of central Kolkata, joked how he hadn’t seen so many party workers waiting to greet a leader in a long time.
The workers lined up with bouquets in one hand and cellphones in the other, ready to click a selfie with the superstar of Indian cinema.
But why did Mithun arrive at the BJP headquarters in Kolkata, a day after the party’s two-day national executive committee meet ended in Hyderabad? Was it just a courtesy meeting for the jostling shutterbugs, eager to get one photograph of the star waving at the tide of people that swamped him?
The political implications are far more important — with just two years to go for the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP has set its sights on Bengal after failing to defeat Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the 2021 state polls.
Mithun Chakraborty joined the BJP in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Kolkata’s historic Brigade Parade Ground, commonly known as the “Maidan“, on 7 March 2021, ahead of the assembly election.
This was five years after he resigned as an MP in Rajya Sabha, to which he was nominated by Mamata in 2014.
Touching the PM’s feet, the actor had said that the day was like a dream for him.
One year later, Mithun is back. Felicitated by West Bengal BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar, the actor and state party leaders held an hour-long, closed-door meeting.
Speaking at a press conference afterwards, Mithun said, “We had a fruitful discussion, Sukanta has given me tasks, but I cannot speak about them. It can be related to Delhi, Mumbai, or Bengal. Delhi controls it, whatever they say, I will follow. The gap in between was due to ill health, but I am okay now.”
“I had resigned from one (Rajya) Sabha and won’t go to any other Sabha (Lok Sabha or Vidhan Sabha). I believe in Bengal Sabha,” he added.
“It’s a big boost for the BJP with Mithun Chakraborty coming to the party office. This is the first time he is visiting the party headquarters in Kolkata, and it will energise our cadres,” BJP leader Rahul Sinha, who was present at the meeting with Mithun, told ThePrint.
BJP MP Locket Chatterjee, who has not only shared screen space with Mithun Chakraborty, but also the same political platform, talked about what could be the party’s plans for the superstar: “Mithun ji played a big role in the 2021 election campaign, he almost covered the 294 constituencies. He also must be given credit for the 77 seats our party won for the first time in West Bengal (in 2021).”
She described him as “an asset for BJP”. “I am sure the party will not just restrict him to campaigning. But whether he will take part in an electoral battle is for the central leadership to decide at the appropriate time,” she said.
Mithun, 72, is likely to campaign widely for the BJP in Bengal for the 2024 general elections. “I campaigned non-stop for 55 days during the Vidhan Sabha elections. Next, I will campaign for 60 days,” he told the media Monday at the BJP headquarters.
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Series of setbacks in Bengal
In the last one year, the BJP has faced many challenges in West Bengal to keep the organisational force intact after the landslide victory of the Mamata-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the 2021 state polls.
Despite a rejig in the top leadership of its state unit, the BJP has lost five MLAs and two Lok Sabha MPs to the Trinamool.
The central BJP brass — Union Home Minister Amit Shah and party president J.P. Nadda — visited Kolkata back-to-back in May and June to hold a series of meetings with state leaders to take stock.
On the one hand, Leader of Opposition in Assembly Suvendu Adhikari and state BJP chief Sukanta haven’t been able to stem the exit of leaders. On the other, the party faced a drubbing in the April bypoll of Asansol — which had been with the party since 2014, when it won only two Lok Sabha seats in the state.
The BJP faced another setback when it failed to win any of the 108 municipalities in Bengal in March this year. Out of the total 2,171 wards that were up for grabs, the BJP won 63. With a voteshare of 13 per cent, it lagged behind even the CPI(M), which failed to win a single seat in the last state polls.
In the same month, the BJP held a ‘Chintan Baithak’ in Kolkata chaired by Sukanta Majumdar, where the party blamed the post-poll violence and “police pressure” for the party losing its organisational base across districts.
Will the Mithun factor work?
Can the Mithun factor help salvage the party in Bengal?
Political analyst Biswanath Chakraborty, a professor of political science at Kolkata’s Rabindra Bharati University, feels the superstar can’t help the BJP regain lost ground.
“Mithun is a seasonal leader. The BJP has to bank on Suvendu as he is an everyday batsman for the BJP. Sukanta Majumdar isn’t a mass leader, while Mithun can attract a crowd, like we saw during the 2021 poll campaign,” he added.
“But that doesn’t translate into votes for the party. There are two reasons for that — organisationally, the state BJP is broken, and they don’t have the Muslim support in West Bengal.”
Trinamool MP Saugata Roy said “Mithun will have no impact in West Bengal politics”. “The Trinamool had made him a Rajya Sabha member, but he quit shortly. A man who can’t stick to his words can’t usher change in West Bengal. He should stick to Bollywood.”
Political analyst Sourjya Bhowmick, author of Gangster State: The Rise and Fall of the CPI(M) in West Bengal, described Mithun as “a spent force”. “Politically, he is insignificant at this point in Bengal politics. On the other hand, BJP’s hope lies in Suvendu, he is a great orator and calls a spade a spade. He doesn’t shy away from taking on the chief minister head on.”
BJP national vice-president Dilip Ghosh, however, said “Mithun Chakraborty belongs to Bengal, he is with the BJP”.
“He is a popular star and wants to work for the people of Bengal. Despite his age, he is very enthusiastic, and he will surely benefit the BJP,” he added.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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