Banjyotsna (left) and her partner Sharib, at a felicitation ceremony at AASU headquarters during their recent visit to the city. Picture by UB Photos

June 25: The city’s bleary-eyed music fans, who remained glued to their TV sets till midnight, were in for a letdown. The latest singing sensation from the state, Banjyotsna Borgohain, failed to repeat Debojit Saha’s feat at Zee TV’s Sa Re Ga Ma Pa ‘Ek Main Aur Ek Tu’, a musical reality show.

The teenage singing talent from Assam, Banjyotsna, and her partner Sharib from Jaipur, lost to the Ujjaini-Aishwarya duo at the grand finale of the contest. It was held at a glittering function in Dubai yesterday.

Audiences, who watched the show live from Dubai, could not believe that the Banjyotsna-Sharib duo, popularly known as “BS”, who were leading in the final leg of the contest, would ultimately have to remain satisfied with the runner’s-up trophy.

Debojit Saha of Silchar had earlier made the Northeast proud by winning the coveted title of Voice of India on Zee TV’s Sa Re Ga Ma Pa.

Though late in the day, several Banjyotsna fan clubs had cropped up in the city, which had taken out rallies and processions seeking SMS votes for the duo.

“I find it simply unbelievable that BS has ultimately lost, after performing so well in the final leg of the contest,” said Rinky Sharma, a student of Arya Vidyapeeth College.

Many fans of the BS duo have alleged that the All Assam Students Union (AASU), who had whole-heartedly supported Debojit on his way to victory, didn’t display similar enthusiasm for BS.

“People listen when a powerful students’ organisation such as AASU appeals to the public. But this time, AASU was not seen taking any such initiative to help BS win,” said a fan of BS on request of anonymity.

AASU activists, on the other hand, strongly refuted such allegations. “It is wrong to say that we have not supported BS. We did all that we could. We have organised news conferences and publicly demonstrated our allegiance to BS during their recent visit. We have extensively appealed to the people to vote for them,” said an AASU member. “Fans of BS should feel happy that a young girl from the city has attained such a high level of success.”

Many people, including several elderly fans of BS, have noticed that voters of the state did not display the same kind of zest during this contest. “Perhaps the show came too soon for music lovers here. They are yet to come out of the Debojit fever, so perhaps that is why they didn’t evince that much interest in BS,” said Abdul Khalid, an elderly resident of GS Road.