CR Park video: After LS polls, TMC brings back ‘maachh’ to its 3-M slogan
Times of India | 10 April 2025
Kolkata: A viral video where a person is seen purportedly schooling a Chittaranjan Park fish-seller on eating habits of ‘Sanatani' Hindus in Delhi had reverberations nearly 1,500 km away in Kolkata, with Trinamool speaking out against imposing "alien" food habits on fish-loving Bengalis.
The party, which had added ‘Maachh (fish)' to its ‘Ma, Mati, Manush' slogan in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections following PM Narendra Modi's criticism of RJD's Tejashwi Yadav for eating fish during Navratri, is going back to it following the CR Park incident. BJP, however, has already said that the video being circulated was fake.
On Tuesday, TMC MP Mahua Moitra posted the video on social media and slammed "BJP goons". Accusing BJP of "threatening fish-eating Bengalis in CR Park", Moitra said this had never happened in the area "in 60 years". On Wednesday, Moitra issued a statement saying, "Everybody has seen the horrifying visuals of lumpen BJP goons threatening Bengali shopkeepers in Delhi's CR Park. CR Park is a Bengali colony, which is proudly Bengali, and Bengalis are also proud fish-eating people. The Kali temple there has been build by locals, and the shopkeepers. Now will BJP tell us what we eat? Will BJP tell us that we need to eat only dhoklas and chant Jai Shri Ram thrice every day? BJP is also anti-Hindus, for these shopkeepers are all Hindus. Has anyone of these lumpens been arrested?"
Countering Moitra's claims, BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya posted on X: "TMC MP Mahua Moitra posted a video, ostensibly from CR Park in Delhi, alleging that certain individuals were threatening vendors in the DDA-approved fish market located next to a Mandir. The video is false and fabricated."
Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva said everyone should respect the sanctity of temples and at CR Park, traders had always respected temples. "Fish markets have been legally allotted...The fish traders maintain a high level of cleanliness in the area and take regular part in socio-religious activities of CR Park. The video posted on social media by Smt Mahua Moitra seems to have been tailored by people with vested political interest to disturb community harmony in CR Park. We strongly condemn the incident and request Delhi Police to take stern action," Sachdeva said.
TMC Rajya Sabha leader Derek O'Brien posted a photo on his Instagram handle at noon, captioning, "For lunch today. Home cooked fish egg roe (machher deem) fried rice. Do not mess with my fish."
TMC MP Ritabrata Banerjee on Tuesday had said, "The people who are dropping Rabindranath from textbooks are the ones who want to restrict Bengalis from eating fish. We have been eating fish for 5,000 years... They don't understand Ma, Mati, Manush. Along with Ma, Mati, Manush comes Maachh!"
Professor at Institute for Language Studies and Research Amitava Das said, "Dragging fish in political narrative reflects power in dominance. It is a kind of cultural aggression where those in power try to negate our cultural and linguistic multiplicity."