Swapna Barman — an Arjuna awardee heptathlete and 2018 Asian Games gold medalist based in Jalpaiguri — joined the Trinamool Congress in Calcutta on Friday.
Her move led to speculations that Mamata Banerjee’s party will field her in one of the Assembly seats of north Bengal in the upcoming Assembly elections.
“I joined Trinamool to work for people. I am inspired by Mamata Didi, who has come up from the grassroots and has done a lot for Bengal. The array of welfare schemes that she has introduced is unprecedented. I feel it will be a wider platform for me to serve the people,” said Swapna at the joining ceremony.
Mukul Bairagya, chairman of the state Namasudra development board — who facilitated the talks between Swapna and the party leadership — had hinted at her decision on Thursday.
State ministers Chandrima Bhattacharya, Bratya Basu, and Gautam Deb, the mayor of Siliguri, handed over the party flag to her at the Trinamool office.
“She is from a Rajbanshi family and has struggled for years to achieve success. From today, she will start her second innings,” said Bratya while welcoming her to the party.
Chandrima claimed that Trinamool is the “right place” for Swapna. “Her joining proves her confidence in Mamata Banerjee, who has put every effort to bring women to the front and is consistently working for their development, unlike the governments of some other states,” she said.
Political observers said that Trinamool is banking on Swapna, a popular face among Rajbanshis, to draw support from the community. In the recent elections, a considerable portion of the community had voted for the BJP in north Bengal, and Trinamool is desperate to revive its support base.
Basona, Swapna’s mother, said: “Over the past three to four months, she mulled over joining politics. Today (Friday), she has made her decision, and we want her to work for people,” said the mother.
“We have no idea whether she would contest the elections. But whoever the party fields in any of the seats of our district, we will strive to ensure the win of all candidates,” said Mahua Gope, the Jalpaiguri district Trinamool president.
BJP leaders were critical of her move. “She has made a wrong decision by joining Trinamool. The Centre has duly recognised her achievements. Unfortunately, she took such a step,” said Bapi Goswami, a state general secretary of the BJP based in Jalpaiguri.
Additional reporting by our Jalpaiguri correspondent
