The BJP has again shown itself to be a fish out of water when it comes to Bengal.
Actor and BJP politician Paresh Rawal has clubbed Bengalis with Bangladeshi infiltrators and Rohingyas and appeared to mock the community’s love of fish, highlighting the cultural disconnect that several party leaders betray in relation to Bengal and pandering to stereotypes.
As social media castigated Rawal, the former BJP parliamentarian tendered an apology but unwittingly reinforced the party’s lack of understanding of Bengal’s culture by saying that by “Bengalis”, he had meant illegal Bangladeshis and Rohingyas.
At a rally in Valsad in pollbound Gujarat, Rawal had said in Gujarati: “Gas cylinders are expensive but their price will come down. People will get employment as well. But what will happen if Rohingya migrants and Bangladeshis start living around you, like in Delhi? What will you do with gas cylinders? Cook fish for Bengalis?”
His comments kicked up a storm in the eastern state where the BJP burnt its fingers in Assembly elections last year, a performance attributed in good measure to its poor understanding of Bengal’s culture.
Accused of insensitivity and imperilling Bengalis working in other parts of the country, Rawal tendered an apology. “Of course the fish is not the issue AS GUJARATIS DO COOK AND EAT FISH. BUT LET ME CLARIFY BY BENGALI I MEANT ILLEGAL BANGLA DESHI N ROHINGYA. BUT STILL IF I HAVE HURT YOUR FEELINGS AND SENTIMENTS I DO APOLOGISE,” he responded to a Twitter user.
Trinamul leaders such as MP Mahua Moitra and Saket Gokhale criticised Rawal while netizens tore into him for bringing “Bengalis” and “fish” into the discourse.
CPM state secretary Md Salim filed an FIR against Rawal at Taltala police station. In a letter to the officer in charge of the police station, Salim requested that a case be registered against the BJP leader because his statements would lead to Bengalis living outside the state being “prejudicially targeted and affected”.
“They don’t understand Bengal or Bengal’s culture and constantly keep hurting the sentiments of the people of this state.... Besides, his comments will endanger Bengalis living in other states,” Salim said.
The reaction from Bengal prompted the saffron ecosystem to reason in private that the attack was on Delhi’s Arvind Kejriwal government, which had allowed Rohingya colonies to come up in the capital. But several BJP leaders in Bengal said the damage had already been done.
“This tendency of our leaders (from outside Bengal) to drag Bangladesh into the narrative or talk about our food habits is causing us irreparable damage in the state.... I hope our leaders will understand this someday,” a BJP source said.
Alleged infiltration has been a pet theme with the BJP, which believes the issue helps consolidate Hindu votes in the state’s border areas by stoking the fear of illegal immigration from Muslim-majority Bangladesh.
A Bengal BJP leader said Rawal’s comments were unpardonable. “Doesn’t he know that people living in West Bengal are also called Bengalis? Doesn’t he know that fish is the most favoured delicacy among Bengalis?” he asked.
He said that referring to Bangladeshi infiltrators simply as “Bengalis” and looking down on Bengalis’ food habits not only distances the party from the people of the state but also bolsters the perception that the BJP does not understand Bengal.
BJP leaders, including Union home minister Amit Shah and party chief J.P. Nadda, have made goof-ups in Bengal. Shah had garlanded a statue of an unknown Adivasi hunter mistaking it for a statue of tribal icon Birsa Munda. Nadda had said Rabindranath Tagore was born in Santiniketan.
The Bengal BJP officially tried to put up a brave face on Friday. The state unit’s chief spokesperson, Samik Bhattacharya, said: “Whatever Paresh Rawal has said is right. He didn’t demean Bengalis. He has clarified that he spoke about Rohingyas and Bangladeshi immigrants. People who are creating a useless controversy must remember that thousands of Bengalis work in Gujarat and their future will be jeopardised if this continues.
