Kolkata: Among the other new faces, Trinamool Congress (TMC) has given a Rajya Sabha ticket to a Chemistry professor, Shamirul Islam who has been actively involved in the upliftment of people of backward classes besides many other achievements in the context of social activism.
Shamirul, a member of ‘Bangla Sanskriti Manch’, has reportedly agreed to accept TMC’s offer of a Rajya Sabha ticket.
The reasons for offering him a ticket are plenty, as learnt from TMC sources. During the Covid pandemic, Shamirul, through his organisation, is said to have taken initiatives to help hundreds of migrant workers when they were returning home from other states in the wake of a country-wide lockdown. He has the highest priority for his organisation which became evident from the fact that when he was contacted by TMC for the ticket on Sunday night, he is learnt to have replied that he will only accept it if his organisation allows him.
When the list was published by TMC on Monday, it is said several of the top-tier leaders in the party had no idea as to who the person is.
It is learnt that he first came to the attention of the ruling party in the run-up to the 2021 Assembly elections when he campaigned under the slogan “No Vote to BJP’. Shamirul has never actively worked for TMC before.
He is learnt to have told the media that his affinity for TMC grew at the time of the pandemic when Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had set up an observation committee to monitor the situation.
Islam though has never participated in hardcore mainstream politics, he is said to have been associated with several political protests which include raising his voice on issues such as NRC, farmer agitation etc.
Asked as to what then inspired him to try his hand at mainstream politics now, he said that it was ‘Didi’ (Mamata) who asked him to utilise his passion to raise a voice for the demands of the people of Bengal.
As for his background, he is a professor of Chemistry at Dinabandhu Andrews College and was born in Birbhum’s Rampurhat. He studied at Dunigram High School and then went on to study at Rampurhat High School.
He graduated in Chemistry from Manindra College in Kolkata and then went on to study Chemistry at IIT Delhi.