Dear readers
There are not many occasions when aam (ordinary) becomes khaas (special). We all know that politics gives food for thought but occasionally it also gives thought for food!
As poll fever rises, the standard buzz around Modi and Muslim is going into multiple other M zones—from mango to mushroom and from machchali (fish) to mutton.
Another M is the politically crucial vote bank of the Mallah (the Nishad or boatmen community), which comprises around 8 per cent of the vote and is concentrated in cities with a river route in Bihar and UP.
And, of course, Mr. Modi recently brought up the other M of mangalsutra, with his fanciful claim that the Congress would sell one M and hand over the proceeds to another M! But alas the devil lies in the details.
So let us focus instead on the mouth-watering culinary controversies that have added spice to the ongoing election campaign.
Last week New Delhi television channels latched on to the claim that the jailed Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was eating too many mangoes. The allegation was that the Aam Aadmi Party leader was eating aam to deliberately spike his sugar level to get bail on medical grounds. When the ED made this claim to the Special Judge (Prevention of Corruption) Act, Kejriwal’s lawyers in turn wondered if in mango season Kejriwal was expected to eat mushrooms instead.
This was a dig at Mr. Modi’s purported mushroom fetish. Ahead of the Assembly polls in 2017, the then Congress leader Alpesh Thakor (who later joined the BJP) had alleged that Prime Minister Modi eats five special mushrooms a day, which are imported from Taiwan at a cost of Rs 80,000 per piece. The Prime Minister’s fondness for mushrooms has since been reported by many media outlets, and stuffed mushroom was part of the State Dinner menu when Modi visited the US in 2023.
Earlier, on April 12, Modi had hit out at the Opposition for eating mutton in the month of Sawan, calling it part of their “Mughal mentality”. He was referring of course to the much-viewed video of Rahul Gandhi cooking Champaran mutton in Lalu Prasad’s Delhi house last year.
This year, it was Lalu Prasad’s son’s turn. Tejashwi Yadav, who has reached out to the fishermen and boatmen community (Mallah, Navik, Nishad, Kevat) by aligning with Mukesh Sahani’s Vikassheel Insaan Party, posted a video while enjoying a fish lunch in his helicopter. In the short video, Tejashwi said that the delicious single-boned fish they were eating had been brought by his colleague Sahani. The latter explained that the fish was found only in Mithilanchal and Kosi. Both regions have a sizeable Nishad population, and voting for the third phase is on May 7.
When the fish video went viral, the BJP took the moral high ground claiming that the leaders were eating fish during the Hindu festival period of Navratra. Sahani countered by saying the video was made a day before the festival began on April 9. Sahani also raised a new slogan: “Maach-bhaat khayenge, Mahagathbandhan ko jeetayenge” (we will eat rice and fish, and ensure the victory of the grand alliance) before declaring that he would continue to eat fish daily but only after Navratra.
Tejashwi seems to be deliberately teasing the BJP over its dietary obsessions. Days after the fish row, he uploaded another helicopter video while eating an orange. Oranges are among the fruits consumed during the 10-day Navaratra festival, when sections of the population in Bihar turn vegetarian. “Hello friends, there was an orange party in the helicopter today,” he posted on X. “They [BJP] won’t get stressed by the colour orange, will they?” Union Minister Giriraj Singh from BJP called Tejashwi a “Seasonal Sanatani” while Sahani and Yadav hit back, saying: “the fish bone has got stuck in the BJP’s throat and it won’t come out.”
Some foods in India have always had a religious identity, beginning with beef and pork. But long before these new rows over ‘halal’ meat began, in the villages of Bihar where meat was commonly eaten, not many Hindu families liked chicken. While poorer Muslim households had small home poultries, the Hindu families preferred mutton. Then as the poultry industry took wing, the new generation began to lap up murga-bhaat (rice and chicken curry).
As the controversy over mutton and machchali rages and there are growing attempts to question one’s commitment to religion on account of one’s food habits, one recalls the words of Swami Vivekananda, who had said, “There is a danger of our religion getting into the kitchen”.
Well, religion may or may not have done so yet, but our politics has certainly entered the kitchen.
As summer peaks across the country, it is typically accompanied by a decline in meat-eating. One hopes to also see a decline in the controversies around it. The election will end on June 4, hopefully soon followed by the Monsoon—another M!—and much respite all around.
Until then, keep reading Poll Vault and send us your feed(not food)back. You can also send us some kulfi to beat the heat.
Anand Mishra | Political Editor, Frontline
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