Sitabhog, mihidana and lyangcha are something of a confectionery holy trinity in Burdwan town.

Three lakh residents of the town in East Burdwan thrive on 500-odd sweet shops but their shelves contain a more layered history.

“Burdwan has a rich history of its own royal family that is entwined with the invention of these sweets as well as the involvement of the British Raj here,” said historian Sarbajit Jash, referring to the rice-based sitabhog and mihidana and the flour-based lyangcha.

Lyangcha. Munshi Muklesur Rahaman

“These sweets were concocted, or invented, at the home of then Raja Bijoy Chand Mahtab, who was receiving Lord Curzon in 1904 at his palace,” Jash said.

Barely a week before the city goes to the polls, the sweet hub has become the latest theatre of the bitter battle between the Trinamul Congress and the BJP.

While the BJP has been attacking Trinamul over a now-defunct “Mishti Hub” built by the Mamata Banerjee government, the Bengal ruling party has accused the saffron camp of knowing nothing about the state’s history and culture.

“The BJP has been trying to get at Trinamul because our attempt to build a Mishti Hub here, like in New Town, did not take off upon completion. The BJP, however, knows nothing about the sweets’ true history, and that of the people here,” said Trinamul spokesperson Debu Tudu, projecting the party as the custodian of the cosmopolitanism in Burdwan town as encompassed by its sweets.

BJP leaders in the area, however, demurred when asked about their supposed newness to this rich confectionery culture.

“Trinamul’s Mishti Hub was a failure. We will certainly revive it once we are in power. Regarding our supposed ignorance of ways, please note we will be gifting the Prime Minister servings of both sweets when he arrives in Burdwan on Monday,” said BJP district president Abhijit Tah.

In 2014, Mamata had announced the construction of the Mishti Hub adjacent to the Durgapur Expressway here, but three years on it was written off as a temporary failure for low footfall.

The move came less than three years after her government had issued G.I. tags for sitabhog and mihidana in East Burdwan.

Mihidana. Munshi Muklesur Rahaman

“Everything takes its own time. We in Burdwan do not subscribe to the belief that the Mishti Hub was a failure. The politicians have just been busy,” said Burdwan Sitabhog and Mihidana Traders Welfare Association secretary Pramod Kumar Singh.

Not far from the Mishti Hub lies one of the three branches of Ganesh Sweets, a 100-year-old local landmark.

Owner Prasenjit Datta, grandson of founder Ganesh Chandra Dutt, said: “I don’t know about politics, but all I know is whoever comes to power needs to preserve this culture of sweet-making which is an important industry here.”

Dutt sells over two quintals of the three sweets every day.

Jash recalls records stating how the two sweets, sitabhog and mihidana, came to be.

“The Raja’s confectioner wanted the sweets to be visually appealing to an Englishman, but also not too fancy. So he came up with the tasteful, if tame, mixture of sweetened rice, garnishing and colour, which are common to both sweets,” he said. The old recipe containing “Sita” grain has since been replaced with Gobindobhog rice or chickpea flour (besan).