BJP hosts fish festival to taunt Trinamool’s narrative against saffron camp after Bengal win
Telegraph | 11 May 2026
The politics around fish continues even after the May 4 election result, as the BJP on Sunday organised a fish festival in Calcutta to counter the Trinamool Congress’s narrative that the party would ban fish if voted to power.
As part of celebrating the sweeping victory, the state unit of the BJP’s OBC Morcha served machh-bhat — a traditional fish-and-rice meal — to around 2,000 people to showcase that the BJP would never ban fish in the state.
The fish festival was organised in ward 38 of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, which falls under the Jorasanko Assembly constituency.
Minister Dilip Ghosh, who took oath on Saturday at Brigade Parade Grounds, did not miss the opportunity to launch a sharp attack on the Trinamool Congress and former chief minister Mamata Banerjee over the issue after enjoying machh-bhat.
“Mamata Banerjee and her associates have misled people with lies for so long. We will respond through our work. That is why our workers have begun their celebrations by serving machh-bhat to the people of Bengal. The Trinamool government, which could not make Bengal self-sufficient in fish in their 15 years of rule and had to bring fish from Andhra Pradesh, claimed that the BJP would ban fish,” said Ghosh at the venue after having lunch with traditional katla machher kalia (a rich catla fish curry).
Fish became a major issue in Bengal politics in the run-up to these recently concluded Assembly elections after Mamata Banerjee and her party pitched the narrative that the BJP would ban fish and meat in the state if it came to power.
The campaign around fish became so intense that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had to counter the Trinamool's narrative, pointing out that Bengal was not self-reliant in fish production for the fish-loving people of Bengal. During his election campaign in Haldia, East Midnapore, on April 9, Modi spoke extensively on fish.
BJP MLA-elect from Baranagar, Tapas Roy, who also attended the fish festival on Sunday, echoed the Prime Minister’s line while attacking the Trinamool Congress.
“Mamata Banerjee has elevated the politics of falsehood to an art form. It is she who has deprived the people of Bengal of their traditional fish and rice. In her 15 years in power, has she ensured an adequate fish supply for Bengal?” Roy asked.
“Bengalis can eat fish and eggs only because fish comes from BJP-ruled states. Just as Bengalis are not self-sufficient in fish or eggs, people do not have sufficient earnings because of joblessness. How will they afford fish? The only people eating fish were Trinamool syndicate operators and extortionists. Now, the Bharatiya Janata Party will ensure that everyone can afford to eat fish,” the new Baranagar MLA added.
The organisers said the festival was inspired by Trinamool's "lies" as well as a remark made by state BJP president Samik Bhattacharya before the Assembly polls.
“Before the election, Samik da had said that party workers would celebrate victory with a fish meal. So we organised the fish festival here. More than 2,000 people had lunch featuring four fish recipes. We have proved that the BJP is not against eating fish. The people of Bengal will continue with their machhe-bhatey lifestyle,” said Prakash Jaiswal, the state secretary of the BJP OBC Morcha, who was one of the organisers of Sunday's festival.
On the food items prepared for Sunday’s festival, Jaiswal said: “There was rice, dal, murighonto, katla kalia, and dishes made with rohu and bekti.”
“Rosogolla was served as dessert,” Jaiswal added.
‘Serve, not rule’
Newly anointed cabinet minister Agnimitra Paul said that the BJP would follow Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s guidelines in governing the state. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that we are here to serve people, not rule them. So, in Bengal, we will follow that,” Paul told reporters after offering puja at Kalighat Kali Temple on Sunday.
She said that while entering the temple, she heard a chorus of “Jai Shri Ram” slogans, which she had never heard there before. She remarked that bhoy (fear) was out of Bengal and bhorosha (trust) had returned with the BJP coming to power.
Fire
At least 30 shops, mostly rice-meal eateries and toy stores, were gutted in a devastating fire at the market adjacent to the Hijli Masnad-e-Ala picnic spot in East Midnapore’s Khejuri late on Saturday night. Witnesses said strong winds from the Bay of Bengal helped the flames spread rapidly, while exploding LPG cylinders compounded the problem.
Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee alleged a “political conspiracy” behind the fire, a charge rejected by the BJP leader Subrata Pari.