Popular Bengali actress Nusrat Jahan, fielded by West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress from Basirhat for the Lok Sabha polls, is drawing huge crowds during her election campaign.She seems to be in an advantageous position over her rivals but could face a close call if local developments in the Muslim-dominated constituency cast a shadow.The Tollywood heartthrob, who is pitted against seasoned politicians like BJP's Sayantan Basu, CPI's Pallab Sengupta and Congress contender Qazi Abdur Rahim, has put her best foot forward since the first day of her campaign, mingling with party workers, interacting with her fans and even singing popular numbers from her movies for them."Tell me who will win this time? Can we be rest assured that it will be victory for Didi and Trinamool Congress," she asked a jam-packed crowd at Basirhat's Sarberia during a party workers' meeting."Till now you have seen me on the silver screen. Now I have come to be with you and fight together," the filmstar said.During her rally in Minakha, Nusrat, clad in cotton sari and sans any make-up, asked people what would be the margin of her victory."Three lakhs," shouted the crowd, many of whom were busy clicking pictures of their favourite star on their cellphones.When they asked her to sing from her films, the actress obliged by humming a few lines from "Love Express" 2016, where she was cast opposite Tollywood superstar Dev (Deepak Adhikari), another Trinamool candidate in the 2019 polls.
Basirhat Lok Sabha constituency was a stronghold of the Communist Party of India (CPI) for three decades during Left Front rule. The legendary CPI leader Indrajit Gupta was among the party candidates who tasted victory from the seat in North 24 Parganas district.Political observers believe the huge Muslim population - anywhere between 47.8 and 62 per cent - has given an initial advantage to Nusrat with the contest becoming a virtual duel between the Trinamool and the BJP."The Muslim votes could go en bloc to her, though a section of the rural Muslim society, very conservative in nature, is not very happy with Trinamool's choice of candidate," said political analyst Udayan Bandopadhyay, an Associate Professor of Bangabasi College.However, another political scientist, Bimal Shankar Nanda, feels the going could get somewhat tough for the 28 year old actress if the scars of the communal violence in the area in 2017 still continue to fester."As per the arithmetic, she may be ahead. But if a good percentage of the Hindu votes gravitate to the BJP, and the Congress and the BJP - both of whom have their sphere of influence in the constituency - are able to clutch on to some section of Muslim votes," said Nanda.In the Lok Sabha elections five years ago, the Trinamool had secured 38.65 per cent, the CPI 30.04 per cent, while the BJP bagged 18.36 per cent votes. The Congress had to be satisfied with around eight per cent of the popular mandate, even though it translated to one lakh plus votes.The BJP has a strong base in Basirhat North, Basirhat South and Hingalganj assembly segments, and could also do well in the mixed areas of Baduria, where the actual communal disturbances had taken place."The Congress also has some traditional votes in some pockets of the constituency. It will be interesting to see how much of that it can retain, though I have a gut feeling that its votes may drop to half or even one-third of the numbers it got in 2014," he said.Nanda also pointed out that some sections of the Hindu population had also expressed their resentment with the Trinamool after the communal incidents."I don't think it will be a cakewalk for Nusrat Jahan, though she could be a few notches ahead of her rivals now," he said.