Trinamul's Efforts to Counter Kirti Azad's "Outsider" Image in Burdwan-Durgapur

To allay fears over its candidate Kirti Azad's "outsider" status, Trinamul in West and East Burdwan has sent out brochures introducing him to its supporters from the Burdwan-Durgapur Lok Sabha seat to workers.

To reclaim the Burdwan-Durgapur seat from the BJP, Trinamul has nominated 65-year-old politician Kirti Azad, a former cricket player. The constituency consists of two assembly seats in Durgapur town and five assembly seats in rural East Burdwan.

The two-page introduction focused on Azad's 30-year political career, his cricketing accomplishments, and his family history. "He is a freedom fighter's son. As a BJP MP, he demonstrated against the excesses of the Narendra Modi regime "a Trinamul official here said.

Bhagwat Jha Azad, Azad's father, was a doctor who became independence fighter and eventually became the chief minister of Bihar.

The introduction also highlights Azad's cricket career and his protest against the BJP and "corruption" in cricket.

According to the preface, anybody attempting to characterize Azad as a "outsider" should be aware that a footballer always plays for his team and nation, never for himself. It also said that Azad is proud of Trinamul, his current squad.

"An introduction was required because he is not a well-known figure in this community or a politician from Bengal," a Trinamul official said.

To further cement his "outsider" status, he acknowledged that Trinamul workers at the grassroots level had difficulties when Azad talked in Hindi.

In the lack of a local personality, several party workers indicated they were having difficulty promoting Azad in the seat.

"Our contender played for the World Cup-winning squad in 1883. In contrast to Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev, he is not well-known to the younger generation. Most of his political activity is focused on Delhi and Bihar, the politician said.

The Trinamul insider said, "The star doesn't need any introduction," in reference to actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha, the Trinamul MP for Asansol Lok Sabha. There are a lot of Hindi-speaking voters in Asansol. Burdwan, or Durgapur, is not the same.

S.S. Ahluwalia of the BJP defeated Mamtaz Sanghamita, the MP for Trinamul, in the 2019 election.