Kolkata, Oct 28 In January 2012, barely eight months after the Left Front lost power in West Bengal, singer Indranil Sen took the stage at the anniversary function of the CPI(M)’s mouthpiece Ganashakti, declaring, “I will not leave the red flag.”
The audience erupted in applause. Sen followed it up with a song, ‘Dharo haal shokto haate’ (Hold the reins firmly).
Within a few years, the man who once wore his Left credentials with pride had become one of then chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s trusted aides, later a minister in her government and a political insider whose proximity to the Trinamool Congress supremo was acknowledged even by senior party leaders.
On Wednesday evening, however, Sen’s remarkable political journey came under an intense spotlight when Kolkata Police arrested him in connection with an alleged corruption case linked to Durga Puja passes.
His arrest has brought into focus the trajectory of a man who moved from the political and cultural circles of former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to the inner sanctum of Banerjee’s administration.
For Sen, the journey was as much about navigating political transitions as it was about music.
In the Left era, his most valuable credential was his proximity to Bhattacharjee, the Marxist leader known for his interest in culture, theatre and the arts.
Sen was a familiar presence at party events and college festivals, while his association with an audio-recording company gave him a foothold in the Bengali music industry.
He was also associated with an organisation working on wildlife conservation alongside a kin of a senior Left leader.
Yet, unlike the party’s established political functionaries, Sen did not occupy a prominent position in the CPI(M)’s organisational hierarchy. His influence appeared to rest more on personal access than on a formal political role.
That distinction would become significant after the Left’s defeat in the 2011 Assembly elections.
Sen’s January 2012 declaration at the Ganashakti function appeared to leave little room for ambiguity about his political allegiance. But the assertion would acquire a different resonance as his public and political engagements increasingly brought him closer to Banerjee.
By 2013-14, Sen was moving towards the Trinamool Congress, which had ousted the Left from power.
Banerjee put him to an early electoral test in 2014, fielding him against Congress stalwart Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury in the Baharampur Lok Sabha constituency.
Chowdhury was an entrenched opponent, and the contest turned acrimonious. Sen suffered a fractured hand during the campaign and eventually lost the election.
But defeat did not end his association with Banerjee.
Two years later, she gave him another opportunity, this time from Chandannagar in the assembly elections. Sen won and entered the state assembly. He was inducted into the cabinet and entrusted with the Information and Cultural Affairs Department, previously held by Bhattacharjee during his tenure as chief minister.
Sen’s rise was also reflected in increasingly prominent roles he played in the TMC’s cultural and political messaging. Banerjee, who frequently writes lyrics for songs associated with her political campaigns and public programmes, has publicly praised his ability to compose tunes on short notice.
“I write songs quickly and send them to Indranil, and he sets them to music so beautifully,” she has said, describing how creative work could continue alongside the demands of public life.
The singer’s musical contribution became an additional source of access to the chief minister, reinforcing an image of a minister who could move comfortably between cultural events, political functions and the corridors of power.
Over the years, Sen emerged as one of Banerjee’s trusted aides, with his proximity to the chief minister becoming a talking point within the TMC. In a party where access to the top leadership often carries considerable political weight, his closeness to Banerjee was seen as both a source of influence and, reportedly, a cause of resentment among some party leaders.
After the arrest, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari invoked Sen’s Left-era connections, describing him as the CPI(M)’s “blue-eyed boy” and referring to his association with an organisation linked to Bhattacharjee’s family.
“People change their form like water with the times,” Adhikari said, alleging that Sen had begun promoting the achievements of the BJP after the change of power.
He also said the BJP would not open its doors to him.
The remarks underscored how Sen’s political past had become part of the present controversy, with his movement between rival camps providing ammunition to the BJP’s attack on the TMC.
Sen was arrested after hours of grilling by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Kolkata Police over the “financial irregularities” committed by MassArt Society in organising Durga Puja preview shows.
(PTI News)
