West Bengal Prime Minister Mamata Banerjee appointed Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan as the state’s brand ambassador because he is a Khan, said the state’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Chairman Dilip Ghosh at a rally. at Krishnagar in the Nadia district on Thursday afternoon. The BJP won the Ranaghat Lok Sabha seat in Nadia district in 2019.
Advancing the dispute with the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) which has accused the BJP of being a party of “outsiders” relying on Hindi-speaking leaders from Delhi and other states for crucial assembly elections scheduled for about five months Ghosh Banerjee said in his speech.
“The BJP is called outsiders here, but if you (Banerjee) wanted a superstar as a brand ambassador for West Bengal, then you could have chosen Dev, a folk hero and member of the Lok Sabha. Alternatively, it could have made legendary actor Soumitra Chatterjee the brand ambassador. But you selected Shah Rukh Khan. We don’t understand why? You need a Khan. Others will not. We all know that a Khan is needed for electoral politics, ”Ghosh said.
Actor Deepak Adhikari, popularly known as Dev, is a member of TMC Lok Sabha from Ghatal in West Midnapore. Soumitra Chatterjee, a Bengal icon, recently died in Calcutta at the age of 85.
Muslims represent around 30% of the population of Bengal. This is not the first time the BJP has accused Banerjee of turning to minorities to secure its vote bank. The BJP won 18 of the state’s 42 Lok Sabha seats last year and had campaigned against the CM in this regard.
TMC’s Lok Sabha senior deputy and party spokesman Saugata Roy said: “Dilip Ghosh, who always wears his regular glasses, cannot see reality or understand that the prime minister appointed Khan the brand ambassador for Bengal not because of his last name but because of the fact that he is extremely popular not only in India but across borders. ”
“Ghosh is talking about [Soumitra] Chatterjee but neither he nor any of the BJP state leaders participated in his funeral procession and the last rites where the prime minister was present for hours. It was a state funeral. The actor was previously honored by her with the Banga Bibhushan Award. Dev, due to his popularity, has been an MP twice and serves the people, ”Roy said.
In February 2012, Khan formally accepted Banerjee’s proposal to become a state brand ambassador. The acceptance came in the form of a letter to the chief minister. She had applied for the movie icon during a talk after the opening of the 17th Calcutta Film Festival in November 2011, months after toppling the 34-year-old Left Front government. Khan had initially orally accepted the prime minister’s appeal.
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