KOLKATA: Two namesakes locked in an electoral contest in West Bengal’s Jhargram has created a confusion not just among the voters but apparently in their parties, too.
Trinamool Congress Adivasi Cell state president Deb Tudu recently shared on Facebook a poster seeking votes for party candidate Birbaha Soren, but it had the photograph of actress Birbaha Hansda.
While Soren is the wife of Robin Tudu, the leader of powerful tribal organisation Bharat Jakat Manjhi Pargana Mahal (BJMPM), and a social activist herself, Hansda is the probable candidate of the Jharkhand Party (Naren) and a mega star in Santhali cinema with a massive fan base in western Bengal.
Birbaha is a common name in the tribal regions which means wild flower in Santhali language.
Because of Tudu’s poster on Facebook, Birbaha Hansda started receiving phone calls from fans and relatives from across Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha and even Bangladesh, with people congratulating her or seeking to clear their confusion over her candidature. The post was deleted as soon as the mistake came to light. “I don’t run the page, my sons do and they committed the mistake. I have deleted the post,” Tudu said.
But Birbaha is not pacified and is considering dragging the TMC to court. “I am planning to file a defamation case and go to the EC for mental agony caused due to the confusion created by the poster,” she said.
In the 2016 Assembly polls, Birbaha lost to the TMC candidate. However, relations between the Hansda family and the party improved after that and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee felicitated Birbaha at Adivasi Divas in Jhargram last year. Her name even cropped up as TMC’s Lok Sabha candidate for Jhargram but she lacked the crucial support of the powerful BJMPM, sources revealed.
However, Robin Tudu said, “My wife Birbaha Soren was unanimously nominated by BJMPM to be the TMC candidate.”