Bengal polls: Can Asiad gold medallist Swapna Barman pull it off for TMC?

The 291-strong list of Trinamool Congress candidates for the upcoming assembly elections has it’s share of celebrities – 14 of them handpicked from the world of films, theatre, music and sport. While a number of them are sitting MLAs, a ticket for Swapna Barman — India’s first-ever Asian Games gold medallist in heptathlon — from Rajganj in her Jalpaiguri district of north Bengal has attracted a lot of eyeballs.

Forays into politics by sportspersons, be it at the state or national level, had been largely the domain of cricketers or footballers. The last time an athlete from Bengal who was among the chosen ones was Jyotirmoyee Sikdar, a double gold medallist middle distance ace in 1998 Asiad in Jakarta, who was nominated by CPIM in 2004 Lok Sabha elections before she moved onto Trinamool and then BJP.

The 29-year-old Swapna, who stormed into a gold medal in 2018 Jakarta Games against all odds, was hampered by a nagging knee injury and finally quit in 2022 after an unsuccessful attempt at a comeback. The prospect of an election ticket for Swapna had been gaining credence when on 27 February, Swapna became a new entrant to the party and visited the Dabgram-Fulbari Assembly constituency on the outskirts of Siliguri – accompanied by Siliguri mayor and TMC strongman Gautam Deb.

A local girl, Swapna’s struggle in battling abject poverty and tryst with injuries had been a viral story in the country’s sporting media in 2018 when she aggregated 6000-plus points to return with the yellow metal. It was a stupendous achievement for someone born with two extra toes on either foot – who switched on to the more demanding heptathlon from long jump on her coach’s advice.

Efforts to reach out to her over phone proved futile as the star athlete-turned-politician had been busy over the past few days attending to her ailing father in a Siliguri hospital. Soon after joining Trinamool, Swapna was politically correct when she said: "I have always been inspired by Mamata Banerjee’s politics. The way she came up from grassroot politics and the social development projects our government took up was huge. I have accepted their offer as I feel it may give me some opportunity to serve the underprivileged people in my segment," Swapna said.

The other sportspersons in fray in Bengal elections this time are debutant Shibshankar Paul, a former Bengal pace bowler, who will be contesting from Tufangunj in his backyard North Bengal while Bidesh Bose – a legendary winger in football in the Seventies and an incumbent MLA – will be contesting from Hooghly. Ashok Dinda, a former India paceman, has been chosen by BJP to defend his seat in Moyna from East Midnapur.

There are not many who are unfamiliar with the story of Swapna, who grew up in an environment where batting poverty was like second nature. Her father worked as a rickshaw puller before two strokes forced him to stay at home while her mother was a maid and a tea-picker.

Noticing her interest in sport, her father assembled crude high jump equipment with bamboo so she could practice. Swapna continued her sporting education at the local Jalpaiguri Sports Complex when her career started to take off. Cut to Jakarta, a resilient Swapna was forced to compete with excruciating tooth pain on the day of the final – the reason behind a heavily bandaged face.

The former high jumper defiantly secured three personal bests (out of seven events) on her way to a comfortable Asian Games crown – not to speak of a place in Indian sporting history. The feat has certainly helped Swapna carve a special place in the hearts of people of north Bengal, an area where the BJP had been making sporadic inroads. It’s a battle of a different kind, but Swapna is no stranger to hurdles!