TMC’s sharp posers on fuel prices & inflation to counter BJP’s Hindutva pitch
Times of India | 19 March 2025
12 Kolkata: As Bengal BJP tried hard to pitch its Hindutva narrative both inside and outside the state assembly on Tuesday, Trinamool Congress responded with posters questioning, "Hindu Jodi Bhai Bhai, Gas-e Kyano Chhar Nai" (If Hindus are brothers, why no relief for people in prices of cooking gas?), and "Hindu Hindu Bhai Bhai, Kintu Bangali Purno Mantri Nai" (Hindus could be brothers, yet there's no Union cabinet minister from Bengal).
The banners, which appeared in parts of north Kolkata, including at the Shyambazar five-point crossing, also targeted the Aadhaar-EPIC linkage issue, high fuel costs and inflation under BJP's watch. All slogans were in Bengali, reinforcing the local impact of the campaign.
On Monday, parts of Chinsurah in Hooghly saw BJP's banners and flexes that read "Hindu Hindu Bhai Bhai, 2026 e BJP ke Chai' (All Hindus are brothers, we want BJP in office in 2026), ostensibly setting the campaign tone for the 2026 state polls.
"The so-called Hindu brotherhood of BJP comes to the fore only when there's an election knocking at the door. At other times, the only ‘bhais' they recognise are the likes of Mehul bhai," alleged Debangshu Bhattacharya, in charge of TMC's IT cell.
"This was our campaign to expose the hypocrisy of the BJP leadership, which chants Hindutva but renders lakhs of Hindus stateless in the name of NRC. Bengal knows how to choose between the Hinduism of Swami Vivekananda and that of PM Modi," he added.
Bengal BJP spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Samik Bhattacharya blamed Trinamool for driving a wedge between communities and dividing people. "The banners were spontaneous reactions from people who have called the TMC bluff of first trying to project itself as Hindu sympathisers and then bowing before fundamentalist forces at Furfura Sharif," he said.
This played out with much higher intensity inside the assembly. BJP MLAs staged a walkout after their adjournment motion was edited out. State leader of opposition Suvendu Adhikari said: "Is the word Hindutva unconstitutional or unparliamentary? How can he (Speaker) edit and erase the word Hindutva?" Speaker Biman Banerjee said some words like Hindutva were edited out from the motion and it was read out.
Adhikari later said any attempt to stop processions that would be held across Bengal on Ram Navami (April 6) would be resisted strongly.
State finance minister Chandrima Bhattacharya said: "We are people's representatives; we need to fulfil hopes and aspirations for all sections of people. We never fought elections in the name of religion. And none can even conclusively prove that this religious bloc voted for one particular person and did not for the rest. The Constitution's preamble makes it clear that there can be no discrimination based on religion. Why is the EC silent when constitutional norms are being repeatedly disregarded by a political party?"