Bengali actress, Nusrat, who has also tried to get his stakes in the Lok Sabha election 2019 this time. (All pics: nusratchirps instagram)
Mamta Banerjee gave her a ticket from Bashirhat Lok Sabha seat.
Nusrat is known as a Hot Bengali Bala.
Nusrat often posts his beautiful photos and videos on his Instagram.
She has tremendous fan following (1.3 million) on his Instagram.
“I told you, I was not lying. She will be here with us any moment now,” a local Trinamool Congress (TMC) party worker shouted to the surging crowd. “She will speak to you, wave at you, listen to you.”
When 29-year-old Jahan was named the ruling TMC’s Lok Sabha candidate from Basirhat, a communal sensitive town along the Bangladesh border, her nomination was met with a fair amount of mockery and surprise.
In 2017, Basirhat, a Muslim majority constituency, was rocked by violent clashes when a teenage Hindu boy posted a Facebook status that allegedly mocking the prophet. Shops run by Hindus were set on fire, the local police station in Baduria vandalised even as the local Muslim religious heads called for peace and restrain.
Jahan, a familiar name in commercial Bengali film circles with hits like Khoka 420 and Haripada Bandwala to her credit, a convent school education from Our Lady Queen of the Missions School in South Kolkata, and a fixture in the city’s affluent social circles, seemed an unlikely replacement for Idris Ali, TMC strongman and a long-time MP from this volatile constituency.
Over the past few weeks however, Jahan appears to have vindicated the TMC’s faith in her. Her rallies have drawn crowds eager to see her, listen to her speeches, and even hear her sing.
Jahan is playing the role of the reconciliation candidate to perfection. On campaign stops she visits local temples, and her Facebook photographs are a strategic mix of candid photos of her eating puchkas and rolls, tastefully staged photographs of her in idyllic rural settings, and shots of her addressing large public gatherings. On April 14, her page shared a photograph of her wishing her followers Ram Navami, attracting likes and comments from both Hindus and Muslims.
“Every one, Hindus and Muslims know her through her films. They all want to see her in person, hear her speak,” said Rini Bibi, a TMC panchayat member who said Jahan was perhaps the TMC’s best shot at bypassing the communal fault lines running through Basirhat.
“The minority and Hindus both like me for my work,” Jahan said, in an interview with HuffPost India. “I am kind of the common factor between two and would not let communal forces spoil that and create a stir.”
Her principal opponent, the Bharatiya Janata Party, alienated some of its own supporters when the party leadership nominated the BJP’s state general secretary, Sayantan Basu to stand against Jahan. Thus far, Basu has distinguished himself by calling on central paramilitary forces to shoot those who seek to disrupt the election in the chest.
