BJP's Rupanjana slams Dilip Ghosh for jibe against actors

KOLKATA: The internal dispute within the BJP has again come to the forefront with BJP member Rupanjana Mitra strongly condemning a recent remark made by the party state president Dilip Ghosh during an interview.

Mitra, who happens to be an actor, had joined the saffron party in July 2019.

Ghosh in the interview spoke in an intimidating tone against actors who have forayed into politics and said the latter should be busy with song, dance and acting and should not step into the political arena. He had also spoken about the consequences of actors coming into politics in an intimidating and objectionable manner. He had cautioned actors from entering politics or else get ready to be 'scrubbed.'

Mitra took to social media to lash out at Ghosh. The actor in her Facebook page wrote in Bengali which can be translated as: "Being an actor myself, I feel demeaned. We have to apply make-up for acting but that doesn't mean somebody should insult us. It is an attack on the diligence we put into our performance. I am appealing to my BJP colleagues not to act as cowards. Enough is enough. I cannot approve such insulting remarks." Though she did not name anybody, her remark was a response to Ghosh's comment. A number of female actors who had joined BJP are contesting in the Assembly elections this year, including Payel Sarkar, Tansuree Chakraborty, Parno Mitra, Srabanti Chatterjee, Anjana Basu and Papia Adhikari. Actors like Rudranil Ghosh and Hiran Chatterjee are also fighting the elections.

The Tollywood industry has reacted strongly against such remarks. Parambrata Chattopadhyay on his Facebook Page wrote that some actors had joined Ghosh's party too so people were asking whether his comments were applicable for them also. Ankush Hazra on his Instagram page wrote that if people in all fields could be selected with minimum educational qualifications, then actors would not have to face such insulting comments.