The ruling party in West Bengal, Trinamool Congress announced  the names of 42 candidates for the Lok Sabha elections and the two names came as a surprise to all were – Nusrat Jahan and Mimi Chakraborty. Both the actors, considered close to the ruling party and were fielded from Jadavpur (Mimi) and Basirhat (Nusrat) constituency.

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But, what followed the announcement was a wave of trolling in the social media. A lot of twitter handles and Facebook accounts were sharing the photos and videos from their films and making distasteful remarks.

On her first day of campaign in her constituency in Basirhat, Nusrat was asked on how she was dealing with the social media trolls she said, “I would echo the words of my leader Mamata Banerjee that we need to be cultured. We have to stop this culture of making distasteful comments. I may be an actor but so what? Does that mean I cannot enter politics and serve my people? My party feels I should be contesting polls from this seat hence named me. I am here to change this culture.” 

During the 2014 Lok Sabha elections actors Moon Moon Sen and Dev were subjected to similar trolling after being named as candidates.

Even this year, when TMC fielded Moon Moon Sen from Asansol – a seat where Babul Supriyo is a sitting MP and a central minister, he took to Twitter and wrote, “Mamataji always presents me with SEN-sational opponents in Asansol Elections… Dola SEN in 2014 and Moon Moon SEN in 2019”.

Drawing sharp criticism, Mamata Banerjee launched a blistering attack on the BJP and Babul Supriyo and termed the party to be uncultured. “They should learn culture from us. As many as 41% candidates of TMC are women. We have not given them a ticket for the sake of it. All of them will win. We are confident. Trinamool’s ideology is we are of the people, for the people, by the people,” Banerjee told reporters on Wednesday.