West Bengal Food Politics | BJP vs TMC #news #bengalelection #culture

Elections are going on in Bengal and both political parties are fighting over food.Fish, Jhalmuri and Rasgulla.Look, this is not just food, this is actually related to votes.If we talk about the Trinamool Congress, Mamata Banerjee is repeatedly saying in her campaign that if BJP comes, then fish, eggs and meat will be banned on everyone.Her election slogan is, No matter how much you attack, Bengal will win.This slogan directly connects the Bengali culture with votes.

If you look at the BJP campaign, for the first time, candidate Sharadat Mukherjee took a Jumbo Katla fish in his hand BJP's candidate followed Bengali customs at the New Year celebration.Women wore sarees and took fish in their hands and campaigned door -to -door.PM Modi's videos also came out, in which he deliberately ate on the camera.That is, the message is clear that we are also Bengali.There is a cephalogist, Vishwanath Chakraborty, who has written books on voting behaviour in Bengal.And he says that this issue of fish has been constructed by Mamata Banerjee and BJP has increased that debate in an attempt to counter it.

a long fight over Rasgulla.In which Bengal claims that Rasgulla was made by Nobind Chandra Das in 1868 in Calcutta.Whereas Odisha claims that in Jagannath Temple, Puri, Rasgulla has been offered as an offering for many centuries.The matter even went to court.In 2017, Bengal got a GI tag and in 2019, Odisha also got a GI tag for their Rasgulla.And the court said that these two are different types of Rasgulla.

Both states are not ready to accept this and say that Rasgulla started from their place.That is, the food item in Bengal and especially Rasgulla has become a symbol of their identity.When a group combines food with its identity, it is no longer just food.It divides an us versus them.And in the 2026 Bengal elections, it is not just the government that is being decided.It is being decided who is the real representative of Bengali culture.

And in this battle, Machli, Jhalmuri and Rasgulla are all contestants.