The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on March 2 announced the names of 20 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha election in West Bengal which included Bhojpuri actor and singer Pawan Singh from Asansol Lok Sabha seat. The nomination of Pawan Singh triggered strong reaction and outrage in political circles with leaders from Opposition parties raising questions on the content created by the singer and songs allegedly denigrating ‘Bengali women’ .
Not only the leaders of Trinamool Congress but also from other political groups raised concerns about the BJP’s pick for Asansol. “My head bends in shame after looking at the content created and propagated by BJP’s Asansol Lok Sabha candidate. The doom’s day of democracy is quite near!” Congress leader and senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi posted on social media. Trinamool Congress Minister and former Asansol MP Babul Supriyo also took to social media and said that the nomination of Pawan Singh “in terms of offending Bengali women & painting them in an utterly disrespectful light in Film titles & Songs” shows the insensitivity of the BJP. Bollywood veteran Shatrughan Sinha is the sitting Trinamool Congress MP from Asansol who won the by-election at Asansol in April 2022 with a margin of over three lakh votes after Babul Supriyo resigned as the BJP MP and joined Trinamool Congress.
Many political observers pointed out that the nomination of Pawan Singh may serve as a “self-goal” for the BJP which is trying to ride the sentiment at Sandeshkhali where allegations of sexual assault has been made at local leaders of Trinamool Congress.
