CALCUTTA, January 22: ``I did not protest when I was branded a witch because it helped me identify with the people I worked with and for.'' In fact, that has been Ipsita Roy's claim to fame in Calcutta for the past decade or so. It is a different matter now, with her new avatar as a Congress candidate in the coming elections. The transformation has much to do with her recent acquaintance with Sonia Gandhi. Plunging into politics for the first time, she has to live up to some part of that image -- and live down some other. ``I'm not a godwoman, a crystal gazer, or a hypnotist. I've never claimed to be any of that,'' she confided to The Indian Express. ``When they called me a witch, I was only providing a social service.''
Her `service' earned her a fame of sorts among some people with nervous and mental disorders. She `treats' them with the help of a rock quartz, calling it `holistic medicine' or `alternative therapy', and no, you may not call it black magic. An English honours graduate, she says
she developed an interest in ancient cultures -- of India, Greece and Egypt -- during her early years in Montreal, Canada, where her father served as a diplomat.
But for most Calcuttans familiar with her name and passion, she is a `witch' who performs all kinds of esoteric rituals.
She herself contributed to her legend in no small measure by taking up the cause of `witches' in the Bengal villages hapless women branded as witches by ignorant villagers, who then went on to kill them. Roy took up their cause, organising campaigns against such witch hunts. She remembers that during a visit to some Bengal villages in 1987-88, she found that as many as 22 women suspected of being `witches' had been killed. The killing of `witches' will be one of her major planks when she launches her campaign as a Congress nominee for the Hooghly constituency. For, she thinks this is the worst form of atrocity on women.
And she is grateful to another woman for giving her this opportunity to ``reach out to a large number of
people''. ``Sonia Gandhi rekindled in me the interest in politics,'' Roy admits. Roy came to know Sonia well during an exhibition of her paintings in Delhi in 1993. She had painted portraits of several political leaders and Rajiv Gandhi's was one of them. ``Sonia liked the portrait very much and we got to know each other.'' Other than experimenting with rock quartz, she has been a full time painter.
She claims however that her family had known the Nehru-Gandhis for a long time. Also, her family boasts of a ``political heritage''. Her grandfather, Nisith Sen, was mayor of Calcutta and her father, Debabrata Chakraborty, was with the Indian mission in Montreal when Nehru visited the city in the late 1950s.
So when Sonia decided to take the plunge, Roy made up her mind too. The idea was mooted by Pranab Mukherjee, followed up by PCC chief Somen Mitra. She agrees that fighting an election -- as a Congress candidate in a CPI(M) stronghold at that -- can be far more difficult than crystal gazing. To enter
politics, she dropped part of her surname; as a `witch' she has always been known as Ipsita Roy Chakraborty. As to the outcome of the polls, she won't say. ``No matter what the people say, I have never claimed I could foretell the future.''
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
