Leander Paes has always been comfortable wrong-footing his opponents. On Tuesday (March 31), he did it again — this time, on a political court.
India’s most decorated tennis player formally joined the BJP at an event in Kolkata, with Union Ministers Kiren Rijiju and Sukanta Majumdar present to welcome him into the fold. With West Bengal going to polls in three weeks, the BJP is clearly hoping to leverage Paes’s public recognition to broaden its appeal among urban voters and younger demographics.
Second innings
The 52-year-old Paes is neither new to politics, nor to changing lanes. After an illustrious career in tennis, he joined the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in 2021 and campaigned for the party in the 2022 Goa Assembly elections. After the sports-to-politics switch, he has now jumped parties.
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The shift from Mamata Banerjee’s TMC to the BJP is the kind of volte-face that would raise eyebrows in any context and, in the charged atmosphere of Bengal’s election season, it is certain to attract scrutiny.
Paes’ family hails from Goa, and both his parents were sportspersons. His father Vece Paes represented India in hockey and was part of the bronze medal-winning team in the 1972 Munich Olympics. His mother Jennifer Paes captained the Indian basketball team.
Bengal connection
The Bengal connection, however, runs deep. Union Minister Sukanta Majumdar recalled at the joining ceremony that the renowned 19th-century Bengali poet and dramatist Michael Madhusudan Dutt was Leander’s maternal grandfather — a lineage that gives his association with the state a cultural resonance beyond the purely electoral.
Recently, Paes was elected as President of the Bengal Tennis Association (BTA).
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On his part, Paes framed the move in the language of service. “I played for the country for 40 years, now it’s time to serve the youth,” he said, pointing to the Khelo India movement and the TOPS scheme as initiatives he wants to champion.
Sporting successes
Paes retired from professional tennis in 2020 after a career spanning more than three decades, during which he won eight men’s doubles and 10 mixed doubles Grand Slam titles. He participated in a record seven successive Olympics between 1996 and 2016, and was the face of Indian tennis for more than three decades.
He remains the only Indian tennis player to have won an Olympic medal — a bronze at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. He has been honoured with the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan.
He is one of the few players to win Wimbledon titles in three different decades — Junior Singles in 1990, Men’s Doubles in 1999, and Mixed Doubles in 1999, 2003, 2010 and 2015.
His partnership with Mahesh Bhupathi, popularly dubbed the ‘Indian Express’, brought India global recognition in doubles tennis, including multiple Grand Slam titles and ATP successes.
Star power
The BJP, for its part, is not shy about what it wants from the association. As Rijiju put it, “I clearly foresee that you will play a bigger innings on the BJP platform.” Whether Paes contests a seat or simply campaigns, his star value in a state where the BJP is fighting hard against an entrenched Trinamool is not something the party will leave on the bench.
The TMC, meanwhile, is not mincing words. It attacked the saffron party for bringing a bohiragoto (outsider) to Bengal.
Bengal Assembly elections will be held in two phases, on April 23 and 29. The results for the 294 constituencies will be announced on May 4.
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