Babul Supriyo’s Dig at Mamata Backfires, Faces Flak for ‘Chauvinist’ Views

Union Minister Babul Supriyo is facing flak after he took a dig at TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee’s campaign ‘Daughter of Bengal’ slogan stating, ‘beti paraya dhan hoti hai” (a daughter is someone else’s property). The tweet was later deleted.

Sharing a meme posted by BJP’s Asansol unit, the post had an image of Mamata Banerjee with mic with “I am the daughter of Bengal” written in Hindi and Union home minister Amit Shah responding with “Beti paraya dhan hoti hain, iss bar vidaa kar denge…”(A daughter is someone else’s property, will send her off this time).”

Trinamool Congress leaders slammed Supriyo for the posts. “Wow! This is what a Union minister is! Shame, Shame!” TMC state unit spokesperson Debangshu Bhattacharya said. State Minister of Women and Child Development, Dr Shashi Panja criticised the BJP leader for endorsing chauvinist views and said she is shocked to see “how deep and wide sexism runs” in leaders of the saffron party.

Last week, West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress unveiled a poll slogan- “Bangla Nijer Meyekei Chaye”, portraying Mamata Banerjee as its mascot with a focus on women voters and Bengali sub-nationalism. The slogan, which translates to ‘Bengal wants its own daughter’, presents the transformation from her popular image of ‘didi’ (elder sister) to ‘Nijer Meye’ (own daughter).

The Bhartiya Janata Party launched a counter slogan yesterday: ‘Bangla Nijer Meyeke Chai, Pishi Not’, which translates to ‘Bengal wants its own daughter as its face but not Pishi (Mamata)’.

Locket Chatterjee, BJP’s member of parliament in Lok Sabha, said “The larger message is that every woman in our state is the face of Bengal,” Chatterjee said.

The Election Commission has announced eight-phase elections in West Bengal from March 27 to April 29. Results will be declared on May 2 along with the three other poll-bound states and the union territory of Puducherry. West Bengal has a 294-member assembly.