As West Bengal prepares for voting in phase 3 of the 8-phase assembly elections, groups of top Bengali artistes — actors, singers, and theatre personalities — have lined up on the either side of the political divide to show support to either Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress or the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Phase 3 elections will be held on April 6 and the last phase on April 29. Votes will be counted on May 2.

Last month, several celebrated artistes from West Bengal, including Sabyasachi Chakraborty, Anirban Bhattacharya, and Parambrata Chattopadhyay made an appearance in a YouTube video, posted on a channel named ‘Citizens United, Nijeder Mote, Nijeder Gaan’ (last part of which roughly translates to “our song, in our way”). Also part of this video are theatre personalities Suman Mukhopadhyay and Kaushik Sen and artists Piya Chakraborty, Santilal Mukherjee, and Surangana Bandyopadhyay.

The song features a montage of Nazi Germany interspersed with visuals and ‘reports’ from present-day India. Not once are any of India’s political parties mentioned by name, but at one point, singers Anupam and Anindya go, “I looked at Goebbels’ mirror… spotted your reflection there.”

The video also carries a newspaper replica of the time when the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) was banned in India. The song highlights several other aspects, including ‘demonization of knowledge’, women’s safety, high fuel prices, and competing notions of citizenship and nationalism.

This is just one instance of the Bengali film and artist fraternity taking sides in the ongoing elections. Actors Mithun Chakraborty and Rudranil Ghosh have also lent support to political parties in this election.

In the past, actor Yash Dasgupta joined BJP and Nusrat Jahan joined TMC, adding star attraction in the list of candidates.

“Not everyone gets it, but in this digital age, the kind of connection the film fraternity has with people is incredible, and the parties want to use that. This was not there in the analog era,” said a filmmaker who wished to remain anonymous, reports Film Companion.

One of Mamata Banerjee’s most high-profile campaigners, ever since she came to power, has been Dev, a big star whose mass appeal goes with the subaltern politics of the TMC. Mithun Chakraborty—arguably the most famous Bengali actor, is campaigning for BJP.

According to Film Companion, actor Kaushik Sen spoke about the dangers of letting a ‘Far-Right party like BJP’ win in Bengal in the past. Parambrata Chatterjee spoke about resisting Hindi imposition as well as wrote an oped on the election for a leading Bengali daily. Sabyasachi Chakraborty, a lifelong supporter of the CPIM, is one of the actors who protested against the implementation of CAA/NRC last year—so did actor Anirban Bhattacharya.