West Bengal Assembly election 2021, Birbaha Hansda profile: TMC fields Santhali actress from Jhargram constituency

Santhali language film actor Birbaha Hansda will be contesting from Jhargram Assembly constituency on a Trinamool Congress ticket in the upcoming West Bengal polls. Hansda will contest against BJP’s Sukumar Satpati and CPM’s young leader Madhuja Sen Roy on 27 March in the first of the eight-phased Assembly election. The TMC candidate from Jhargram accused the BJP of bribing voters and using unfair means to win tribal votes. Lashing out at the BJP, Hansda said, “The BJP claims that the tribal population is with them but Jharkhand taught them a lesson. We are Santhali and our religion is Sari.” “We worship nature but they want to convert us to Hinduism. In 2019, they divided Santhalis and Kurmis by luring the latter to reservation,” she said. Daughter of the founder of Jharkhand Party Naren Hansda and politician Chunibala Hansda, Birbaha said her decision to join the TMC was prompted by the urge to reach out to more people and work for the society including her tribal people. “I was working for people since long, however, I was not getting a platform to increase my outreach. I have joined the Trinamool Congress to increase my outreach and work for the people and help Didi in her fight against BJP,” she said. Jhargram is an Assembly constituency in the Jhargram district of West Bengal. It falls under the Jhargram Parliamentary constituency. The voting will begin on 27 March, with Bengal having the maximum eight phases continuing till 29 April. Including Jhargram, 30 Assembly seats will go to polls in the seventh phase. The results of the election will be declared on 2 May. The state is held by the AITC with an absolute majority, with Mamata Banerjee on her second consecutive term as chief minister. The ruling party is fighting a pitched battle with archrival BJP, while the Congress-led alliance is also a key player in the fray.