“I hadn't heard anything... they gave me my bed tea very late, so I woke up very late. What can I say? I really don't know,” Moon Moon said on Monday
Kolkata: Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool was left red-faced yet again after its Asansol candidate Moon Moon Sen blamed the late arrival of her bed tea for her ignorance about the violence in her constituency.
“I hadn't heard anything... they gave me my bed tea very late, so I woke up very late. What can I say? I really don't know,” Moon Moon said on Monday.
Violence erupted in Asansol during the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections. Alleged TMC goons attacked and vandalised the car of Union minister Babul Supriyo, who is fighting a BJP ticket and seeking re-election from the constituency. The paramilitary forces that are deployed for Supriyo's personal security had to rescue him.
Moon Moon was heard telling a young woman reporter that she had not seen the violence during CPI(M) rule. “It (electoral violence) is all over India,” added the veteran actress.
This is not the first time that Moon Moon has embarrassed the Trinamool. She has been repeatedly seen campaigning in her late mother Suchitra Sen’s name. Suchitra is perhaps the most popular Bengali actress ever and is someone with whom all Bengalis have a deep emotional connect. Moon Moon, quite brazenly, has chosen to piggyback on her mother's name instead of talking about tangible reforms that may have been done by her or the TMC.
Not only did Moon Moon use hoardings with her mother’s photos, she was also heard saying in one of her rallies that her victory will bring peace to her mother’s soul.
“Initially, I thought being foreign-educated and being Suchitra Sen's daughter, she would shy away from personal attacks. From whatever she has said in the past 10 days or so, I knew that this would happen once she starts spending time with TMC leaders... But I never expected her to do so soon,” Supriyo said, adding that it was sad to see Moon Moon invoking her mother to ask for votes.
Supriyo asked a pertinent question: "Why would people vote for Suchitra's Sen's soul's peace? When did Suchitra become TMC's?" He pointed out that Suchitra would have been unhappy to see her daughter "in a mafia party and flanked by the coal mafia".
Moon Moon is not the only actress fielded by the TMC who has drawn flak with their ignorance and snobbery.
Only a few days ago, another popular Bengali actress and the Trinamool candidate from Jadavpur, Mimi Chakraborty, was seen shaking hands with the people of her constituency from inside the car and with gloves on.
“She is a celebrity candidate. Won’t such things happen? You know how people pull (hands) when they see a celebrity,” Chakraborty's publicist said, showing how arrogance runs deep in the party.
A video also did the rounds in which Chakraborty is heard berating the voters and saying that she had no reason to switch from films to politics if she weren't inclined to work for the people.
Chakraborty is contesting against BJP’s Anupam Hazra and CPI(M)’s Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharjee from the Jadavpur Lok Sabha constituency.
Chakrabarty’s disdainful act proves that she, like Moon Moon, prefers to live in her ivory tower, protected from the rough and tumble of electoral politics and that she cares little for the poor and downtrodden masses.
The TMC’s Barasat candidate Nusrat Jahan is also not far behind in bringing the party a bad name. "For me, managing home and shooting for films are my full-time jobs. Now I don't think to work for people will be extra work. Handling two things is always difficult but everything can be balanced," she said after her nomination.
Unfortunately, if an actress, who thinks working for the people of the nation will not require blood and sweat, she has failed the first test to become a leader of the masses.
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