Mimi Chakraborty, the newly elected Trinamool MP from the Jadavpur Lok Sabha Constituency, appeared on India Today on Wednesday. During the interview, ‘esteemed journalist’ Rahul Kanwal asked her to sing a song and appeared to be in awe of the actress. Thus, while West Bengal burns, the interview with Chakraborty was quite a jolly affair.
Listen to the mesmerising voice of star MP @mimichakraborty on #JabWeMet with @RahulKanwal
LIVE at https://t.co/4fqxBVUizL pic.twitter.com/8Z5hAL8ABK— India Today (@IndiaToday) June 12, 2019
Kanwal met Nusrat Jahan as well, the Trinamool MP from Basirhat. The show was called ‘Jab We Met’ and in the clips, it can be seen that the journalist and Chakraborty are eating phuchkas together and playing football at a time when elected representatives from West Bengal, especially from the ruling disposition, ought to be questioned on the chaos that the state is facing.
.@nusratchirps & @mimichakraborty are not your usual abhi’netas’. These women MPs are shattering stereotypes about politics. Catch them talk about their politics and much more with @rahulkanwal on #JabWeMet tonight at 7. pic.twitter.com/HIbcefvofS
— India Today (@IndiaToday) June 12, 2019
The interview also reveals that the media itself does not take Mimi Chakraborty seriously merely because she is a young actress. In its own way, it is a very obnoxious brand of sexism where attractive young women are reduced to their mere beauty and are not taken seriously.
From the tweet, it appears clear that Rahul Kanwal was not interviewing Chakraborty in her capacity as an actress but as a ‘star MP’. Kanwal, then, ought to have asked her questions that concerns people and her solutions as an elected representative. Instead, the interview came across as a PR propaganda for a politician.
Especially given the circumstances, when there is great angst among the people of Bengal due to the deteriorating law and order situation, such an interview appears rather disgraceful. On Monday, nearly 200 people descended at the NRS Hospital in Kolkata and attacked doctors and interns after the death of an old patient due to natural causes.
Following the incident, doctors have started protests demanding adequate safety, immediate arrests of the perpetrators and an inquiry into police inaction during the violence. They have shut down services which is impacting patients as well. Moreover, the violence has spread to other colleges and regions as well.
In Burdwan, a mob attacked the students and doctors of Burdwan Medical College and Hospital injuring several of them. All because they were protesting in solidarity with the aggrieved students of NRS Hospital. There are reports of violence at other places coming in as well.
Under such circumstances, an elected representative from the ruling party in West Bengal was interviewed by India Today and it doesn’t appear she was asked a single question about the ongoing crisis. It is extremely unethical on the part of a media outlet to act and behave as the propaganda wing of political parties which is exactly what India Today has done here. It was also extremely sexist in the sense that Mimi Chakraborty was reduced to her attractiveness and not treated with the seriousness that she, as an elected representative, commands.
