West Bengal Assembly polls: Babul Supriyo's journey from a singer's studio to a politician's stage

A lot of hands will be raised in affirmation. Sung by Alka Yagnik and Babu Supriyo, the song was a big hit. Yes, amid his growing influence and fame as a politician, we sometimes forget that Babul Supriyo is a singer too, who has lent his voice to many hit songs, both in Bollywood and Tollywood (West Bengal film industry).

When Supriya Baral changed his name to Babul Supriyo and entered the Bollywood industry in the mid-nineties, another Bengali singer Kumar Sanu was at the peak of his power in the industry. Comparisons used to be drawn between Sanu and Supriyo due to the latter's uncanny similarity with Sanu's style.

But slowly, Supriyo carved a place for himself in the industry, with songs like Aati hai to chal (Saath Rang Ke Sapne, 1994), Hata sawan ki ghata (Hello Brother, 1999), the title song of the 2001 film Chori Chori Chupke Chupke that he sang along with Alka Yagnik, Dil Ne Dil Ko Pukara (Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai, 2000), Chanda Chamke (Fanaa, 2006) among others. He has also plied his trade in Tollywood, with Pherari Mon in the 2009 film Antaheen, which he sang with Shreya Ghoshal, being his biggest hit in recent years.

Also read: BJP lists candidates for phases 3,4: Babul Supriyo to contest from Tollygunge, Rajib Banerjee from Domjur

But it is the politician Babul Supriyo who has grabbed the headlines more times than the singer, albeit for controversial reasons sometimes. He entered into active politics in the 2014 Lok Sabha election as BJP's star candidate from the Asansol Lok Sabha constituency and won against TMC's Dola Sen. He was inducted to Narendra Modi-led NDA government as the Union Minister of State, Ministry of Urban Development, and Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation on November 9, 2014, and after July 2016, his portfolio was changed to Minister of State for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises.

Supriyo contested in the 2019 Lok Sabha election from the Asansol Lok Sabha constituency again and defeated Moon Moon Sen by 1.97 lakh votes, and secured a total of 6.32 lakh votes. In May 2019, he became Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

Babul Supriyo joined Bengal BJP when the party was still in its nascent stage in the state. While his rise from being just a celebrity politician to someone who shouldered the responsibility of leading the party with elan deserves applause. However, he never failed to court controversies as well.

Read more: Hanuma Vihari murdered cricket, says BJP leader Babul Supriyo

On September 19, 2019, he was gheraoed and allegedly heckled by a section of students in the Jadavpur University for nearly six hours. Supriyo went there to attend a seminar organised by ABVP inside the campus. The members of the Students Federation of India (SFI), the student's wing of the CPM, and the Arts Faculty Students Union (AFSU) stopped him from entering the campus. They also raised “go back” slogan and showed black flags to the Minister.

When he tried to leave the campus after the seminar concluded, hundreds of students blocked his path, demanding that he should apologise for his alleged offensive behaviour with them. The agitators had announced that they would not allow him to leave the campus until he apologises to them.

During his heated exchange with a section of students, Supriyo alleged that he was slapped, pushed and abused. However, the students denied the allegation and accused him of provoking them with insults. He was later rescued by Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar who rushed to the scene.

Also read: 'I have two daughters', says Babul Supriyo after 'sexist' tweet on Mamata Banerjee

In recent past, he criticised Indian batsman Hanuma Vihari's performance in the third Test against Australia in Sydney. He tweeted, "Hanuma Vihari has not only killed any chance for India to achieve a historic win but has also murdered cricket.. not keeping win an option, even if remotely, is criminal". Vihari played a historic rearguard innings of 23 runs off 161 balls along with Ravichandran Ashwin to salvage a draw for India.

In the run-up to the Bengal Assembly election, mocking TMC's poll slogan 'Bangla nijer meyekei chaay' (Bengal wants its own daughter), Supriyo shared a meme featuring Amit Shah’s photo with a quote saying “beti paraya dhan hoti hai, iss baar vida kar denge” (a daughter is someone else’s wealth, will send her off this time). The tweet also had Mamata’s photo with a quote saying “Mai Bengal ki beti hu” (I am the daughter of Bengal). He deleted the tweet after facing flak.

Supriyo is contesting the upcoming West Bengal Assembly election from the Tollygunge Assembly constituency in South Kolkata. The Assembly election in the state will begin on March 27 and end on April 29. The counting of votes will take place on May 2.