Lucknow/Kolkata, Apr 22 (PTI) Shafiqul, who makes kebabs at a prominent Lucknow eatery, and Tarak Nath Bhattacharya, a local priest, share a common passion – ‘maach’ or fish which they both relish.
The other common between them is Bengal, their home state, where they are registered as voters.
Both have reached West Bengal, where Assembly polls are due in two phases on April 23 and April 29, amid an intense “veg vs non-veg” poll narrative playing out across the eastern state.
While the ruling Trinamool Congress is alleging that the BJP would ban eating fish, meat and eggs if it comes to power in Bengal, which is a predominantly non-vegetarian society, the saffron party has got some of its leaders to publicly eat fish and meat to blunt the Trinamool’s charge.
Adding fuel to the debate, Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said that if the prime minister “wants to eat fish, I will cook it for him myself”.
“‘Maach Bhaat-e Bangali’,” Bhattacharya told PTI, hinting at how fish and rice are a staple in Bengali homes as he gets ready to vote in the Debra Assembly segment in Paschim Medinipur district, which goes to poll in the first phase on Thursday.
“I have voted in every Bengal election since turning 18,” said Bhattacharya, now 45, who works as a priest at Lucknow’s Hari Sabha temple.
While admitting that the Bengal election this time could be closely contested, Bhattacharya seemed surprised at the ‘veg vs non-veg’ debate raging in his home state.
He recalled how the BJP was branded an ‘outsider’ in Bengal before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls as well, a party that “didn’t understand the state’s politics and culture”.
“But back then it was limited to stray statements. This time, we have seen politicians moving about with fish in their hand, and eating non-veg food publicly, which is most unusual,” said Bhattacharya, who reached Bengal on Tuesday to cast his vote in Debra, where the BJP’s Rajib Banerjee is pitted against Subhashis Om of the Trinamool Congress.
Shafiqul, who is registered as a voter in the Chanchal Assembly constituency in Malda district where polling is due on Thursday, is also amused by the ongoing food debate.
“Many non-vegetarian eateries in Lucknow and other parts of Uttar Pradesh have cooks, helpers or waiters from Bengal, and most of them have reached the state as parties are leaving no stone unturned to ensure that voters turn up in large numbers on polling day,” Shafiqul said.
This “desperation”, according to Shafiqul, is an indication that the polls are going to be closely fought this time.
Though he admitted that he doesn’t understand the ‘food debate’ much, he felt that in a closely-contested election, emotive issues like food habits could well influence the ‘swing’ votes.
“I eat fish and meat as most Bengalis do. But it was never an election issue before, unlike now. There has to be a reason,” Shafiqul told PTI over phone from his home town, where Trinamool’s Prasun Banerjee is up against Ratan das of the BJP.
“The intensity is much more this time as compared to the 2021 elections. The food debate is there, just like the SIR (Special Intensive Revision) of electoral rolls,” he said.
“My family members too faced problems due to the SIR in Bengal. The same exercise was also carried out in Uttar Pradesh, but unlike in Bengal, it was not this big an issue there,” Shafiqul said.
He also said that many of his friends from Bengal who work in Uttar Pradesh have also reached the state to cast their votes.
Subroto Chakraborty, a priest from Rabindrapalli in Lucknow, is listed as a voter in the Nanoor Assembly constituency in Birbhum district.
“I have come home to vote. My brother Supriyo, his wife Tuli too are reaching the district for the election,” Chakraborty said.
Nazrul Karim, who works at a restaurant in Lucknow’s Lalbagh area, claimed that around 50 people from Malda district work in the city and all of them have reached Bengal to cast their votes.
Among them are Tajimul Haq and Anarul Haq, who too said fish has been a key poll issue in the district this time.
Elections to the 294-member West Bengal Assembly will be held on April 23 and April 29, and the results will be out on May 4.
The high-pitched campaign for the first phase of polling came to an end on Tuesday as issues ranging from food habits, cross-border infiltration, a uniform civil code, to the contentiously revised electoral rolls dominated the discourse.
Nearly 3.60 crore electors are eligible to vote in the first phase on Thursday, according to Election Commission data. PTI NAV MAN ARI
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