New Delhi, April 13 (IANS) Political temperatures in West Bengal continue to rise over cultural identity and dietary habits, with BJP MP Manoj Tiwari launching a sharp attack on the Trinamool Congress, accusing it of spreading misinformation ahead of elections.

Addressing the ongoing controversy over fish consumption and regional identity, Tiwari said, “TMC has now become a party of rumours. In Bihar’s Mithila region, people eat fish. Everyone eats what they like and wears what they want. Our party’s slogan of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’ means exactly that.”

He further asserted that the ruling party in Bengal was losing its political ground, adding, “Now, since they have nothing to say in opposition, they are spreading rumours. But Bengal will no longer be misled by rumours; they will now move towards the BJP.”

The remarks come amid an escalating political debate in the state over the cultural slogan “Mache Bhate Bangali (fish and rice define Bengalis)”, which has become a symbolic flashpoint between the BJP and the Trinamool Congress in poll-bound West Bengal.

The Trinamool Congress has been accusing the BJP of attempting to interfere with local food habits and cultural traditions, while the saffron party has been trying to counter what it describes as “false narratives” being circulated for electoral gain.

Earlier on Friday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee responded strongly to remarks made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding fish production. Speaking at a rally in Barasat, she defended the state’s fisheries performance and questioned comparisons with other states.

She said that PM Modi said more fish is produced in Bihar than in Bengal and that these are sold to other states; “it has to be so because the people in Bihar are not allowed to eat fish,” Banerjee alleged, while highlighting Bengal’s production growth and income generation in the fisheries sector.

She added that fish production in saline water alone stood at 1.98 lakh metric tonnes and stated that the earnings of fisherfolk had increased significantly under the Trinamool Congress government.

As the political exchange intensifies, Bengal’s long-standing cultural identity around fish-eating habits has increasingly become a central theme in campaign rhetoric, turning everyday food habits into a heated electoral issue.

–IANS

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