New Delhi: A tweet by author and columnist Anand Ranganathan about Mysore Pak sparked a debate and became a state vs state issue, and also made its way to TV debates.
Ranganathan had on Sunday posted a photo with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman which said that talks on granting the Mysore Pak GI tag to Tamil Nadu were “proceeding smoothly”.
Pleased to receive this token of appreciation, on behalf of the one-man-committee for granting of the Mysorepak GI tag to Tamilnadu.
Talks are proceeding smoothly. WDTT. pic.twitter.com/khppaVijXt
— Anand Ranganathan (@ARanganathan72) September 15, 2019
Monday afternoon, the conversation snowballed into a Twitter war with people hitting out at Ranganathan for trying to steal Karnataka’s identity and went on to call him a “national security risk” as well.
https://twitter.com/suryasanjay24/status/1173174113021513728?s=20
We will do nation wide protest if Tamilnadu gets GI tag on Mysorepak. Mysorepak belongs to Mysore
— hnpur harish (@HnpurH) September 15, 2019
Some users also pointed out that Mysore Pak has Mysore in its name and hence can’t be from Tamil Nadu.
Don't you have simple common sense……. The name itself says it is from mysore
— Parashuraam raam (@raam31791) September 16, 2019
TV channels like TV9 and News18 Kannada using the tweet as their source ran debates on it.
Ranganathan later said that he had tweeted the picture as a joke, and called on BJP Bengaluru MP Tejasvi Surya and journalist Smita Prakash to “help”.
DEAR @tv9kannada. YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS. Stop this. AT ONCE.
For heaven's sake, @smitaprakash, please intervene and calm the waters. Things are getting out of hand. pic.twitter.com/HTTFrdkK3O
— Anand Ranganathan (@ARanganathan72) September 16, 2019
https://twitter.com/ARanganathan72/status/1173505292560027648?s=20
https://twitter.com/ARanganathan72/status/1173505292560027648?s=20
https://twitter.com/ARanganathan72/status/1173507643119296512?s=20
MP Surya responded to Ranganathan’s tweet saying that he had spoken to the TV channel and they were retracting the report.
“If humor & sarcasm is lost from our public conversations, it will be such a loss,” said Tejasvi.
Haha. I spoke to the concerned TV channel. They are stopping it now.
Chill for now. And as an aside, accept Mysore Pak is from Mysuru 😉
(P.S. To All – If humor & sarcasm is lost from our public conversations, it will be such a loss) https://t.co/Gnjuhj8rCI
— Tejasvi Surya (@Tejasvi_Surya) September 16, 2019
Ranganathan’s tweet invited some outrage against Sitharaman just a week after she faced backlash on social media over her millennial comment.
@nsitharaman madam mysore pak is a traditional sweet which belongs to karnataka how can you geo tag the same to Tamilnadu. This is unfair. #MysorePakBelongsToKarnataka
— Girish (@GirishRambo) September 16, 2019
Wat the hell! Whole world knows mysore pak is mysore n karnataka's pride, it's karnatak's invention who the hell @nsitharaman is to grant GI tag to u.
— Arunkumar B (@Arunkum15483182) September 16, 2019
Leave all these kind of statement @ARanganathan72 Just tell your opinion where does Mysore Pak belongs ?
If @nsitharaman wants to eat Mysore Pak she should come to Mysore/Karnataka.@News18Kannada #MysorePak https://t.co/cS5XcjDIY3
— Raghavendra Bhat (@RaghavendraBha) September 16, 2019
@nsitharaman @hd_kumaraswamy @CMofKarnataka @Tejasvi_Surya the name itself says #mysorepakbelongstokarnataka Don't play with feelings of people, Everyone again & again creating new issues with kannadigas.then language now mysore pak, please fight with unity…
— Ravi Vijay (@IamRavivijay_07) September 16, 2019
What is a GI tag and why is it important?
This is not the first time a debate surrounding Mysore Pak’s GI tag has erupted. Ranganathan was part of it then too. In November 2017, Times of India reported that Tamil Nadu and Karnataka were fighting for Mysore Pak’s GI tag after Ranganathan tweeted about it.
As always, authentic documents come to the rescue. Here it is – confirmation that Mysorepak is a Tamilian invention. pic.twitter.com/GxSVfquwRN
— Anand Ranganathan (@ARanganathan72) August 2, 2015
A GI tag is like a trademark where a product is said to belong to a particular territory and “a given quality, reputation, or other characteristic of the good is attributable to its geographic origin”. GI tags last upto 10 years and can be renewed.
GI tags help certain communities which depend entirely on their indigenuous products. The tag provides recognition to certain products which become synonymous with cultural and geographical identity over time.
Also read: The importance of GI tags: Why Bengal is celebrating its rasogulla victory
Hilarious. Good to see Tejaswi Surya being able to retain his wits.