PM Narendra Modi's fish jibe too maachh for Bengal? CM Mamata Banerjee adds it to maa-mati-manush
Times of India | 16 April 2024
KOLKATA: From the fierce football rivalry between Mohun Bagan's "chingri" (tiger prawn) and East Bengal's "ilish" (hilsa) to integral roles in Hindu religious rituals, fish is more than just a culinary delight in Bengal. It's a way of life for a multitude of Bengalis. And this election season, Trinamool Congress is attempting to pick a fish bone with BJP.
Trinamool's 'maa-mati-manush' slogan has added another M - maachh (fish) - after PM Modi's jibe last week at RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav for eating fish during Navratri. Tejashwi clarified that the video clip of him eating fish was from before Navratri.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday warned voters during a public meeting in Cooch Behar that BJP would dictate people’s food habits if it came back to office. “They will dictate what you will eat for lunch and dinner,” she said.
Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, speaking at another Cooch Behar rally over the weekend, had said the PM was perhaps unaware that some religious rituals in Bengali households were considered incomplete without machhand mangsho(meat). Should parties seek votes in the name of dharma (religion) or karma(work), he had asked.
And, keeping the fish metaphor going, Trinamool Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien wondered aloud on Sunday — after the I-T search on Abhishek Banerjee’s campaign chopper — whether the central agency’s officials were searching for “fish sandwich” on the chopper. A post Poila Baisakh Monday lunch hosted by a senior Trinamool MP in Delhi had a fish-only spread that included rui(rohu), bhetki(bekti) and pabda.
Trinamool seniors said both their lead campaigners, the Bengal CM and the party general secretary, were likely to hammer home this point at their future rallies. A campaign is also being planned on the lines of “BJP hatao, machh-bhat khao (drive out the BJP to keep eating rice and fish)”.
Fish, say scholars and historians, is ingrained in the Bengali psyche and point to how chingri and ilish have shaped a part of the Mohun Bagan-East Bengal rivalry.
Food habits depended on the climate and the topography of a region, historian and Alipore Jail Museum director Jayanta Sengupta said. “In Bengal, there is a predominance of rivers, seas and ponds; so there is a natural abundance of fish. It is expected that fish will be an intrinsic part of our daily life and diet, like we say “machh-e bhat-e in Bangla,” he said, adding that fish was ubiquitous in regional literature (like Mangal Kabya) and folk traditions. “It is a symbol of our culture and identity as well and plays an important role in many rituals. It is considered auspicious and is a part of the tatwa given during weddings. Fish recipes can also be found in some puja bhogs,” Sengupta said.
Trinamool Barasat MP and physician Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar pointed out the benefits of including fish in the diet. “It is also a cheap source of protein, healthier and stacked with Omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D along with minerals and iodine,” she said. State women and child development minister Shashi Panja said this was the reason TMC called BJP “a party of bahiragata (outsiders)”. “It is their sheer ignorance of what we as Bengalis hold dear.
Fish is not only a staple in Bengal but also a part of our psyche, be it football or songs. If the BJP does not understand what is in our heart, how will it govern us?” she asked.
BJP spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Shamik Bhattacharya, however, accused Trinamool of misleading people. “What the PM said was that many people did not eat nonvegetarian food during Navratri. We have nothing against fish. Trinamool is actually trying to assure people who eat beef by accusing BJP of trying to alter people’s food habits. She (the CM) has no love for either fish or fishermen,” Bhattacharya added.