All the world’s a stage for these politicos
Going by their histrionics and full-throated baritones within and without the Assembly, it seems that the long-buried actors within Samresh Singh and Satyanand Jha ‘Batul’ often dominate their political personas.
Picture this: During the ongoing Monsoon Session, JVM legislator Singh tore his kurta, rushed into the well of the House and was about to unfold his dhoti when he was requested not to, amid blushing female legislators. “Jatra party. Ye acting karta hai!” were all the plaudits heaped upon Singh.
Batul too happened to be a jatra actor, playing the role of Lord Ram and lead of the Vishwamitra-Meneka act.
At the age of 71, when many of his party leaders expect statesmanlike behaviour from him, Singh chides them, “Shut up, you fools! Just listen and watch me.”
Singh won’t mind jumping on to the reporters’ table during debate if he has a point to make. The table turns into a stage for his solo theatrics, where he delivers passionate and angry dialogues, unintentionally mimicking great Bengali film actor Uttam Kumar and Hindi film legendary Prithviraj Kapoor on many occasions.
This political heavyweight (86 kg) does not stay on the table for long — either because the table can’t sustain the weight of his rampage or he can’t sustain his own weight.
“He was part of Bengal’s famous jatra party (a theatrical troupe) during the 1960s. He often tore his clothes off to impress his heroine and audiences on stage,” said one of his close aides. Sudhamoi Chatterjee, a male actor who played the role of his heroine in most of his plays, is unfortunately not alive to narrate those kurta-tearing moments.
Politically, Singh continues it, gaining notoriety for pulling others’ dhotis too!
It is tough to estimate how many kurtas he has sacrificed for the public cause, so far. He had resorted to this and dashed his head against the wall in 1975, when the then Chas Police Station in-charge Tarkeswarnath Tiwari had put him in police lock-up during an agitation along with Badal Majumdar and Pawan Agrawal.
That year, he performed it in full public glare in Jamshedpur to support the cause of 86 unauthorised bastis. In 1980, he did it to protest against the then Bokaro ASP Manjari Jaruhar (known as Hunterwali) as she thrashed his political worker Akhilesh Mahto.
“I tear my kurta when I am angry. But the real actors are those who pretend to serve the public,” said Singh, taking a jibe at the Opposition.
However, he doesn’t reply as to why he did a near cheerharan of the then Union Steel Minister Biju Patnaik in 1986, by pulling Patnaik’s dhoti during a public function. “Politics me ye sab chalta hai. Wo bhi ek zamana tha,” he reminisces happily.
He was considered an actor at par with famous jatra actors like Swapan Kumar, Ajitesh Bandophadyya and Rakhal Singh. A great fan of Uttam Kumar, he moved to Mumbai and screen tested with Nirupa Roy.
Batul, on the other hand, must be a keen watcher to Singh’s theatrics. This modern day Vishwamitra finds it tough to deny he has any relations with Soni Devi, who claims to be his wife and Batul, the father of her son. Even the Assembly waits for Batul to provide some comic as well as dramatic moments with his unique dialogue delivery, with the mannerism and pitch of jatra, while rebutting the Opposition’s charges.
It rarely happens that Batul is silenced as on Wednesday, when Congress’ Sarfaraz Ahmed read out an Urdu couplet for him: “Zindagi mein kuch aisa kaam kar kadradaan, ke jis gali se guzrein, bacche bolein abba jaan, abba jaan, abba jaan.”
Singh would have ripped off his kurta, something which Batul doesn’t — the only difference between the two actors.
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