Kolkata (West Bengal): He had expressed his displeasure with a couple of lines from Tagore's 1921 song -- Tomra ja bolo tai bolo, amar lagey na mone (Say whatever you have to say, nothing strikes my mind) when he was asked to step down as a union minister before the recent cabinet reshuffle of the Modi-government. Today, in a lengthy social media post, former union minister and BJP leader Babul Supriyo, indicated bidding farewell to politics with another immensely popular Bangla number sung by Hemanta Mukherjee - Ek gocha rajanigodha hathey niye bollum, chollum (With a bunch of tuberose in hand, goodbye). Speculations and grapevine were already there for some time.
There was strife within the faction-ridden Bengal unit of the BJP as the party gradually emerged as the prime opposition party of the state, sidestepping both the Congress and the Left Front, literally in one go. In fact, the two-time MP from Asansol was not at all comfortable when he was asked by the party to contest the Assembly elections from the Tollygunge seat in the southern fringes of Kolkata.
Even a die-hard BJP supporter or poll strategist would never give a slim chance to the party's candidate against the formidable Trinamool Congress candidate from the seat, state minister Aroop Biswas. There was no prize in guessing the defeat of Babul from the Tollygunge seat. An exasperated Babul took to social media to vent out his frustration.
"Because I think people of Bengal made a historic mistake by not giving Bharatiya Janata Party a chance and by electing this Corrupt, Incapable, Dishonest government & a cruel lady back to power," Babul's post read.
Quitting his job with a private bank, Babul had taken the Gitanjali Express to Mumbai to become a playback singer. He had undoubtedly made his mark. His leap into politics came during a plane ride, where he was seated next to Baba Ramdev.
Read: Former Union Minister Babul Supriyo quits politics
And for today's decision, he chose the seclusion of his car and not his home. "If you want to do social work, you can do it without being in politics - let's organize myself a little first and then...Yes, obviously resigning from the post of Parliament!" Babul said in his social media post, today. "But, I have to answer one question. There will surely be questions about why I decided to quit politics. Is there a relation with me being left out from the ministry? Yes, there is a relation.
At least to some extent... There were some issues with the state leadership before the election as there were differences cropping up. But, some of them were coming to the public domain... the difference of opinion among a section of the senior leaders was definitely damaging the party as well as damaging the morale of the workers on ground zero. No one needs to possess rocket science knowledge to understand it," Babul said in his post adding, "many new ministers have not got government accommodation yet.
So, I will leave my government allotted accommodation within a month (as soon as possible - maybe before that)."Babul Supriyo, the banker-turned-singer-turned-politician, had his moments when he hogged the limelight as he shared a popular Bengali snack 'jhalmuri' with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in 2015. Both had briefly met in front of the iconic Victoria Memorial during an ongoing visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the city.
He again hit the headlines when he was allegedly heckled by a group of students in Jadavpur University in September 2019 and had to be jostled inside the car of Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and whisked out of the campus. Babul was at the campus to attend a seminar organized by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), which was facing strong protests by the Left students' wing. After several twists and turns, Babul Supriyo today said "Alvida" (Good Bye) to politics. The state BJP president Dilip Ghosh was guarded in his responses saying, "It was a personal decision and the central leaders are best suited to respond to this."
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