Kolkata: A couple of years ago, there was a rumour doing the rounds that Rituparna Sengupta would join BJP. That never happened. On Monday afternoon when actor-director Arindam Sil forwarded the letter that celebrities have given to the media to express their solidarity for Trinamool Congress, it included her name. So did that of Mahasweta Devi, Dwijen Mukhopadhyay, Jogen Chowdhury, Monojit Mondal, Abhirup Sarkar, Amiya Chaudhuri, Dipankar De, Indrani Sen, Sraboni Sen, Tridib Banerjee, Rudranil Ghosh, Mohan Singh, Ranjit Mullick, June, Srikant Mohta, Jeet Gannguli, Ankush, Tanushree Chakraborty, Joy Mukherjee, Raja Chanda, Firdousul Hassan, Jisshu Sengupta, Raj Chakraborty, Rajib Kumar, Ronita Das, Sripana Roy, Manali Dey, Saoli Mitra, Goutam Ghose, Pt Bickram Ghosh, Pt Tanmoy Bose, Indraadip Dasgupta and Bidipta Chakraborty, among others. The list seemed to suggest that poet and professor Subodh Sarkar had managed to keep his word of roping in more celebrities and intellectuals in favour of TMC.
Late in the afternoon, Sil, however, called up TOI and said, "Rituparna isn't there on the list. She wants to remain apolitical." However, when TOI got in touch with Mitra, she said, "I have my own political stand. I was asked to attend the meet on Monday. Since I am attending to an ailing Arpita (Ghosh), I had told Nrisinha Prasad Bhaduri that I would be pre-occupied on Monday. I was not told that my name would be there in the letter." Goutam Ghose, who returned from Mumbai to Kolkata on Monday evening, said, "I am very busy with 'Sankhachil'. I wasn't in town and don't know the content of the letter."
However, Kaushik Ganguly, Birsa Dasgupta and Debesh Chattopadhyay, who on Saturday had claimed to be too busy to campaign, have all been roped in. Chattopadhyay had agreed to Sarkar's proposal to lend his name in the letter. "I had asked him to email me the letter. But I never got that. Besides, I don't even have a voter's card," Chattopadhyay said.
At Monday's press meet, Pt Tanmoy Bose was present to express his solidarity because he wanted to acknowledge the CM's support to classical and folk musicians. "I have seen how much Mamata Banerjee has done for the musicians. So many folk musicians have got an honorarium."
What about his take on the Narada issue? "I'm an apolitical person. I've no stand on this."
Composer Indraadip Dasgupta said he supports Mamata Banerjee. "Those named in the Narada scam are innocent till proven guilty. If guilty, Didi will be the first to take action against them," Dasgupta and Sil said.
Ganguly said he supports any constructive work. "I'm seeing a better Kolkata now. I fail to understand why the earlier governments couldn't beautify Kolkata this way and provide better amenities. If anyone is guilty, he should be punished. But that can't take away the credit for the good work done by this party," Ganguly said.
However, his actor-director wife Churni Ganguly's name doesn't find any mention in the list of signatories. "She wasn't asked. We never discussed this issue at home," Ganguly added.
What about Tollywood directors who are currently making Hindi films with Bollywood stars? "I sent out messages to two of them but didn't get any feedback. I also called up Shiboprosad Mukherjee. He might be too busy with his 'Prakton'. I couldn't get in touch with Prosenjit Chatterjee and his secretary," Sil added.
What about celebrities/lyricists including Anindya Chattopadhyay, Somlata Acharya, Rupam Islam, Anupam Roy and Srijato who were part of Trinamool's campaign songs? Some among them had insisted that it was just a professional assignment. Have they stuck to the same narrative now to give this letter a miss? "I respect the views of those who had said it was an assignment. But there are some in this group who have been caustic about me and Subodh Sarkar. They target us but not the producers who give them assignments. These are dangerous celebrities and I call them fair-weather friends of TMC. It's important for us to identify them. I have greater respect for apolitical celebrities than these fence-sitters," Sil said.
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