New Delhi: Actor-turned-politicians Mimi Chakraborty and Nusrat Jahan, who have been elected as Trinamool Congress MPs from West Bengal, did not have the sweetest of starts to their stint as Parliamentarians, as they were incessantly trolled for their attire.
It might seem far-fetched, but yes, the TMC MPs were subject to trolling for their 'western' attire which they chose to sport on their first day at the Lok Sabha.
But why the outrage?
Both Mimi and Nusrat, who won their respective seats by handsome margins, chose to wear crisp western-formal clothes on their first day to work. By no stretch of imagination were their clothes 'unfit' for the Lok Sabha, but some parochial twitter users thought otherwise.
A few trolls commented how 'Indian' clothes would have been 'more formal' and hence 'better suited' for the occasion.
Yes, their outfits were different from the usual khadi kurtas and saris the quintessential Indian politicians choose to sport, but it remains tough to fathom how a choice of western-formals is deemed 'unfit' for the Indian Parliament.
Netizens come out in support
Even as prejudiced twitter users continued on their path of unnecessary trolling, numerous twitterati came out in support of the duo.
Shiv Sena's Priyanka Chaturvedi was one of the first twitter users to come out in support as she said, "Dear @mimichakraborty and @nusratchirps , firstly many congratulations for your debut in the parliament and secondly I loved what you both are wearing, in tune with the changing times :)"
Hailing them for breaking stereotypes, a user wrote, "Newly elected Member of Parliament Mimi Chakraborty and Nusrat Jahan arrived at the Parliament in “Smart Formals “for the first time after getting elected . Many people have been trolling them for not coming in Indian wear ! Proud of you young girls ! ✌ #breaking #stereotypes"
How was their 'photo-shoot' the problem?
After a few social media users came out in support of the duo, the narrative quickly changed from their attire to them 'posing' for photographs.
Again, the reason for trolling on such grounds cannot be understood. Clicking a few photographs on the first day of a new endeavour comes as natural to many. Even BJP's MP-elects like Tejasvi Surya and Gautam Gambhir posed for photographs. How is clicking of photographs wrong?
Mimi and Nusrat emerged as people's outright choice
Amid all the trolling the fact that both the TMC leaders secured fantastic wins speaks volumes. While Mimi Chakraborty contested from Jadavpur, Nusrat Jahan contested from Basirhat. Nusrat won by 3,50,369 votes, while Mimi won by a margin of 2,95,239 votes.
That the duo secured wins by enormous margins is a testament to the fact that they emerged as the people's outright choice. Isn't that what eventually matters in a democracy?
