Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Shotgun for the front seat!

Shatrughan Sinha campaigns in Asansol

Asansol, that borders Jharkhand, in a sense, is a bit of a Bihar within Bengal, since the former two states were the same once. Over 50 per cent of it is primarily Hindi speaking. This migration has everything to do with large coalfields, a steel plant, and a massive railway establishment, that define this trading, industrial town.

"There is also a huge middle-class here - kamaal ka [fascinating] culture of togetherness, no discord, common religious celebrations. It suits me, coming from the film industry, that's so similar," says Bollywood veteran Shatrughan Sinha.

Sinha is fighting for re-election from here on Mamata Bannerjee's TMC ticket. He won the seat in the 2022 by-poll, once BJP's Babul Supriyo vacated, switching over to TMC himself. Sinha's win was the first for TMC from Asansol.

Five-time MP, Sinha, 77, equally a BJP veteran - having been with the party, pretty much since its inception - moved over to the Congress first, and TMC, eventually, a couple of years ago.

He's currently canvassing in the coal belt's scorching heat, known for its black-soot laden pollution - exuding the trademarked cheerful, boisterous spirit still, coughing a few times during this chat: "It's fine; just the dust," he says. Asansol polls on May 13.

Edited excerpts from the interview.

What issues are you going to Asansol's people with?
These are general elections. Issues to highlight are national - primarily to do with undelivered promises of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the BJP. At one end, they say, India is the world's fifth largest economy, and that 25 crore people have been lifted from poverty.

So, have 80 crore people also been pushed into poverty? That they have to be fed [for free]? Then there's mehengai (inflation), unemployment, farmers' income, which was supposed to have been doubled….
The icing on the cake is "chanda ka dhanda" (donation scandal) which got exposed with electoral bonds. People can also see through what the CBI and ED are doing.

At the other end, you watch BJP take up Sandeshkhali in Bengal. I understand that because of the confusion between HC's verdict and CBI on the case, the action taken on Sandeshkhali got delayed.

But for PM Modi to repeatedly attack [Mamata] Didi, India's only woman CM, with "sharm nahin aati" (you've got no shame) taunts, over Sandeshkhali? Kathua, Hathras, Manipur, Karnataka… No shame there? I never say, vote for me. Vote for truth, development and commitment.

Your opponent, BJP's SS Ahluwalia, likewise, has been a parliamentarian over three decades. He switched over from Congress to BJP in 1999. You've had the longest history with BJP, went over to Congress, then TMC…

Firstly, my opponent is not my enemy. I wish SS Ahluwalia well. He was brought in last minute, to contest from Asansol, while he has left work pending at [the adjoining] Burdhman-Durgapur, where he scraped through with a 2,000 vote-margin [in 2019].

I'd been in the BJP from when it had two MPs [in 1984]. My eyes opened when I realised that my father-figure, LK Advani, friend, philosopher, guide, Murli Manohar Joshi, let alone friends Yashwant Sinha, Arun Shourie, Jaswant Singh, were all getting side-lined.

And that BJP was turning from a lokshahi (democracy) to taanashahi (dictatorship). One can't compromise with self-respect. But the nation is above all. And Bihar is my strength.

So, I felt whatever the situation, the location must remain the same. That was Patna City [constituency], from where I had to score a hat-trick.

I joined the Congress. Madam Sonia Gandhi, and Rahul, truly loved and supported me. But there were two-three people making decisions, who quietly gave the [Patna City] ticket away to someone else.

Madam Mamata was affectionate enough to offer me Asansol, even without telling me first. She announced on Twitter [now X], and then called. I scored a hat-trick, with a record margin. TMC had never won from Asansol before.

Mamata and TMC regularly use Bengali, non-Bengali binary as an election rhetoric. How do you reconcile to that, being a ‘Bihari babu' yourself?
I'm a Bihari babu, Bengali babu, and a Hindustani babu. I can speak Bengali which I learnt in Patna, which has the second largest Bengali population. I didn't think it would come handy in Asansol, delivering speeches, so many years later. I got admitted to FTII from the Bengal centre, where Mrinal Sen was the selector. Surely you know, I've done quite a few Bengali films - Gautam Ghose's Antarjali Jatra, Samit Bhanja's Jaban, Shakti Samanta's Mastan…

As I say now, I have one wife, and three homes: Mumbai, Patna, and Asansol!

The reason Ahluwalia was brought in, last minute, is because BJP's original candidate, Bhojpuri actor Pawan Singh, got trolled and cancelled for having delivered lines in his films, derogatory to Bengali women. How fair is that? You've been a Bollywood villain yourself.

I agree, unfair. That way, Amitabh Bachchan and I have murdered in movies. Dilip Kumar was a dacoit in Ganga Jamuna, but such a dignified man.

I haven't met Pawan Singh, but I hear he's a popular figure and a good artiste. But then again, everything is fair in politics, love and war. Take the case of the Karnataka sex scandal. Of course, PM Modi will get personally dragged in.

You've been an accomplished actor, politician forever. What's the difference between the two, and how come so many actors are wannabe politicians?
There is great difference between the two. Yes, many actors get into politics, and why not, if they're committed? If a doctor, actor, farmer can be a politician, surely someone from the film industry too. They also get into politics, because glamour has limited power, but power has unlimited glamour. Many get tired and give up soon, though.

I could be the longest serving MP and the only one from the film industry to have been a cabinet minister, handling Health, Family Welfare, Shipping. Despite that, in all these years, you will not find a single corruption ka daag (stain) against me.

It's particularly insane how many actors TMC fields in the elections. What do you make of that?
You will have to look at this glass, half-full. Everyone talks about 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament, but [Mamata] Didi hasn't waited for any of that, fielding the maximum number of women candidates, across, Encouraging many more women still. Now, they could belong to the film industry, but with arts, culture, sports, seeing is believing. If they're not good, someone else is brought in.

Also, [Mamata] Didi is herself an artiste, who writes prolifically, has written lyrics. She understands art. Otherwise, the attitude [of power] towards the film industry is that they'll squeeze you, and then say, excuse me!