Journalist Sagarika Ghose is TMC’s surprise pick for Rajya Sabha; Netizens remind her “never say never”

The Trinamool Congress on Sunday announced four candidates to Rajya Sabha among which Delhi based journalist Sagarika Ghose was a surprise nomination to the Upper House, and that the took social media by a storm. “We are pleased to announce the candidature of Sagarika Ghose, Sushmita Dev, Mohammad Nadimul Haque and Mamata Bala Thakur for the forthcoming Rajya Sabha elections”, the Trinamool Congress posted on X. Sagarika Ghose, veteran journalist, welcomed the announcement and thanked TMC for the opportunity. However, the internet went abuzz with old videos and social media posts of Ghose where she had previously denounced the idea of journalists accepting Rajya Sabha tickets or political favours from parties. In one of her old posts, shared by people on ‘X’, dated March 13, 2018 Ghosh had assured - “I will never accept any RS ticket or PS ticket or CS ticket from any political party….you can save this tweet”

Elections to the five Rajya Sabha seats from West Bengal will be held on February 27. The seats fell vacant after the completion of term of five MPs including TMC’s Md. Nadimul Haque, Subhasish Chakraborty, Abir Ranjan Biswas and Santanu Sen. Only Haque has been re-nominated while Sushmita Dev has been sent back after retiring from Rajya Sabha in October last year, Dr Santanu Sen, Subhasish Chakraborty and Abir Ranjan Biswas have been benched for now. “The idea was equitable distribution and more representation of women. Mamata Bala Thakur is a big name in Matua community. Similarly Ghosh is the face of a liberal voice in Delhi”, said senior TMC MP.

With Mamata Bala Thakur’s nomination, TMC has tried reaching out to the Matua community, crucial ahead of Lok Sabha elections 2024. She hails from the family which is believed to the founder of the Matua sect, popularly known as ‘Thakur Bari’. With a population of nearly three crore, Matua community isn’t just restricted to the  North 24 districts, rather has an influence of over 70 assembly constituencies both in Southern and Northern parts of Bengal. A two-time Lok Sabha MP, Ms. Thakur faced defeat in the Matua-dominated Bongaon seat to Bharatiya Janata Party's Shantanu Thakur, a relative, in 2019. This nomination also comes at a time when the BJP is promising the implementation of The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 before the polls. The CAA is an emotive issue for the Matua community and TMC has always maintained CAA is a way to fool people while asserting the Matuas settled in India with all proper documents are already Indians and need no further citizenship proof.

The term of Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who was also nominated from Rajya Sabha from West Bengal with the support of Trinamool Congress has also come to an end. Sushmita Dev, former Congress MP , who joined TMC in 2021, is crucial to TMC’s expansion plans in Assam and North East. Much like in the case of Ghose, last year the Trinamool Congress has nominated RTI activist Saket Gokhale to the Upper House. With the support of more than 213 members in West Bengal Assembly, the Trinamool Congress will be able to elect four of its nominees. BJP had won 77 seats in 2021 but more than half dozen of MLAs have defected to Trinamool Congress since then. Going by the strength in the Assembly, out of the five Rajya Sabha seats, the Trinamool will comfortably claim four, while the BJP will secure the fifth seat. BJP gas nominated their former MLA and party spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya to the upper house.