‘Didi’ bets on ‘Didi 1’ star to attract women voters in Sandesh Khari row

Rachna Banerjee has been fielded from Hooghly constituency by the Trinamool Congress. PTI

New Delhi:

If there were a glitz quotient award when announcing candidates for the Lok Sabha polls, Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress would be the clear winner.

While other parties like the BJP and Congress released lackluster lists of candidates and the seats in which they were elected, the Trinamool hosted a grand event at Kolkata’s Brigade venue last weekend to present its poll results.

Ms Banerjee led the procession, waving to the crowd, followed by the party’s 42 candidates vying for various seats in Bengal’s Lok Sabha. Her nephew Abhishek Banerjee, who is effectively the party’s number two, read out the list.

A surprising choice lies behind the Trinamool chief. It’s the face that keeps Bangladeshi women glued to their television screens for an hour every day, whether at home or abroad. This is Rachna Banerjee.

The 49-year-old, whose real name is Jhumjhum Banerjee, first made headlines in 1994 when she was crowned Miss Kolkata. She later went on to star in films in multiple languages ​​including Bengali, Odia, Telugu, Tamil and Kannada.

But no film earned her as much popularity as the television game show. “Didi One” was launched in 2010, and interestingly, Rachna Banerjee was not its first anchor. She took over in season two, and then the producers tried other faces, but none stuck her way. This show has it all – games, laughs, and emotion. Female participants talk about their life struggles and share their happy memories, with the anchor balancing fun and pathos. The result was the longest-running Bengali game show of all time.

Interestingly, Mamata Banerjee appeared in the first episode of Didi a few weeks before the Trinamool announced its candidate. At that time, few thought that Rachna Banerjee would emerge as Trinamool’s poll candidate.

The celebrity candidate is fielded from Hooghly constituency, a suburb near Kolkata. Her opponent is actor-turned-politician Locket Chatterjee, a former colleague in the Bharatiya Janata Party. Ms. Chatterjee is the MP from Hooghly.

The Trinamool’s choice of Rachna Banerjee also needs to be viewed in the context of the atmosphere of this election. The biggest political topic in Bengal right now is Sandesh Khali. Sandeshkhali, an island in North 24 Parganas district, hit the headlines after residents accused local Trinamool leaders of land grabbing, extortion and sexual harassment. The Trinamool ousted local strongman Sheikh Shahjahan, who was detained by the CBI in connection with a mob attack, while the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party spared no effort to detain Mamata Banerjee Government painted as “anti-women”. Over the past decade, the Trinamool chief has built a strong support base among women through schemes like Kanyashree, Rupashree and Lakshmir Bhandar. Now, this is under threat.

This is where Rachna Banerjee comes in. Yes, she is a celebrity, but her audience spans the urban-rural divide and spans age groups.

Ms Banerjee, who has repeatedly backed actors in opinion polls, is well aware that the advantages of flashiness come at a cost. Outgoing MPs Mimi Chakraborty and Nusrat Jahan scored stunning victories in the 2019 elections, but the party must also address the side effects. Nusrat Jahan, for example, drew criticism for posting a clip from a Valentine’s Day celebration at the height of the Sandeshkhali row. This has prompted rivals to target the Trinamool, accusing it of supporting candidates who are not keen on politics.

But so far, the strategy has paid off for Ms. Banerjee. As a result, the previous celebrity choices have given way to new ones. But through Rachana Banerjee, the Trinamool hopes to reach a wider audience than before. Unlike Mimi Chakraborty, Nusrat Jahan or actor Dev (again a candidate this time), Rachna appears on television every day. Her audience spans all economic classes and urban and rural areas.

But there’s a huge difference between a television studio and a voting venue. Rachana Banerjee knew there would be no retakes here. In a recent interview, she said that the filming of “Didi No. 1” may face disruption in the coming months. “I will be campaigning for the Lok Sabha polls. But I will come and shoot in the evening,” she said. And then there’s the big question: why politics? “We need power and a platform to work for people, and there’s no greater platform than this,” she said.