Jogen Chowdhury’s entry into politics was happenstance. The artist did participate, along with other members of civil society, in Trinamool-promoted protests against the Tata small car factory. There the story rested.
But when a Didi’s choice for Rajya Sabha didn’t work out, the ebullient Mukul Roy proposed Jogen’s name. Till that time, Didi was not familiar with Jogen or any of the marquee artists of Bengal. Indeed, she showed no interest in visiting in London an exhibition of Bengal’s best known artist, Arpita Singh.
Didi is not alone. Few politicians are familiar with high culture after Indira Gandhi.
The Didi-Jogen relationship trudged along till something happened. No one knows exactly what. One version links the disengagement to the glorious uncertainties of the game of cricket.
The story goes that the Cricket Association of Bengal was planning a reception for Sachin Tendulkar. Sachin is no stranger to the world of culture. His mother is a Sahitya Akademi Award-winning novelist. Sachin, a budding art collector, had long wanted a specific genre of Jogen Chowdhury paintings known as cross hatch. The cricketer let his interest be known to the CAB.
The association was scouring the galleries of Calcutta when the word leaked.
When Didi got to know, she summoned the CAB officials and suggested instead of splurging on Chowdhury’s painting they could get one of hers. She offered it for free. The CAB had to comply. An upset Sachin apparently did not take the painting home to Mumbai.
It is not known whether this was the reason why Chowdhury was denied a second term to the upper House of Parliament in the summer of 2020. He continues to serve though as chairman of the Kolkata Museum of Modern Art, with very little engagement with the party.
Jawhar Sircar and Jogen Chowdhury at the event
Hell hath no fury like a cultural icon scorned.
When singer Babul Supriyo was dropped from the Union ministry in 2019, he changed his tune and joined the Trinamool. Now it seems to be the artist Chowdhury’s turn to change colours.
Unfortunately, he doesn’t know Amit Shah or the BJP’s face in Bengal, Suvendu Adhikari, though the two were colleagues in Parliament for two years.
Chowdhury did the next best thing that he could do.
Last Monday, at an event in south Kolkata’s Charubasona, an art centre promoted by him, he gave an award to state BJP leader Shishir Bajoria’s wife, Smita, for her “significant contribution as an art entrepreneur and art lover”.
The BJP leader Bajoria too was at the event.
No one knows if something will come out of this manoeuvre. Or if this is a manoeuvre at all. Chowdhury’s friends say that the event was apolitical and it is a mistake to draw political conclusions from a cultural event.
BJP sources deny any such possibility but are quick to point out that the decision will be made in Delhi. Calcutta is unlikely to be consulted. The TMC refused to comment.
Only time will tell if Jogen Chowdhury’s political palette will have a new colour.
The Telegraph Online reached out to the artist for his comments, but he had not responded till the time of uploading this article.