The Hindu : National : Bauls get a hearing in West Bengal

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Thursday, Apr 27, 2006

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Bauls get a hearing in West Bengal

A baul performing on a train in West Bengal.

Indrani Dutta
Kolkata

Take the Bolpur Express to Santiniketan, Tagore's abode of peace, and the chances are that you will run into some bauls. Dressed in red flowing garments, these are the wandering minstrels of Bengal who sing folk songs.

Forced to innovate to reach out to the voters during campaigning, political parties here have begun harnessing the services of these singers to extol the virtues of their candidates. Tapan Pandit is one such baul, who has been commissioned by a party. He has been handed a monthly train ticket and asked to commute in the EMU trains, which ferry office-goers from their suburban residences to the city and back. He is paid a fixed fee, and gets to keep any tips that he gets.

A decade back, during the implementation of the controversial Bakreswar thermal power plant, the Left Front Government headed by Chief Minister Jyoti Basu successfully used the bauls to swing public opinion in its favour. The minstrels strummed soulful numbers to project it as a classic case of a Left-ruled State's neglect by a Congress Government in New Delhi. Songs were rendered to the accompaniment of a single-stringed instrument called `ektara' to tell people how blood was donated to fund a power project, till the Russians extended support.

That experience has not been forgotten; most parties have today realised that folk music is a good way to get the message across. In Siliguri, a Congress candidate has roped in a folk singer and radio artiste to sing at election meetings.

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