Last Updated:
BJP and TMC are now calculating that traditional political messaging like jobs may not alone be able to play a decisive role in 2026 and identity could be the more powerful trigger
The upcoming election is shaping into a referendum on which version of Bengal dominates public imagination—religiously aligned or culturally self-protective.
In West Bengal, every election season turns into a creativity contest, with political parties vying to outdo one another in inventing new vocabularies and fresh political theatrics. In earlier decades, it was ‘class’, ‘land’ and ‘cadre’. In 2011, it was ‘change’. In 2021, it was ‘insider vs outsider’. And for 2026, the emerging grammar seems unexpectedly elemental—faith and food—precisely Muslims vs Machh (fish). Two campaign films, one from the BJP and one from the Trinamool Congress, have signalled how the months ahead may be framed.
The BJP’s recently released campaign video imagines a future, almost a dystopian Bengal, as the state is transformed by unchecked minority appeasement and demographic shift, leaning visually on comparisons with Pakistan. The framing suggests that cultural and political dominance will change hands, and that the consequences will be irreversible.
It is not the first time that religious identity has taken central space in a BJP campaign, but the emphasis here is sharper, which is not on development, corruption, or governance, but on the existential consequences of electoral choices.
The Trinamool’s response, however, takes a different route, that is not religious, but social and cultural. It invokes the Bengali palate—a dream sequence in which iconic dishes, specially Bengal’s delicacy Hilsa—disappear and the state wakes up to a world where fish is prohibited. It suggests that if BJP comes to power, there will be prohibition on fish and then other Bengali specialities.
The symbolism is certainly deliberate. Bengali cuisine is not a hobby or just food, it is an identity marker that cuts across caste, class, region, and even political preference. If Bengal has a cultural shorthand, it is fish, rice, and sweets, and the TMC’s counter-message encodes that familiarity.
Before Polls Comes Priming
On the surface, the two videos seem incompatible. But strategically, they are speaking to the same voter—not the committed ideological base, but the undecided Bengali Hindu who may witness polarisation not only through religion but also through culture, specially food anxiety. One campaign appeals to what Bengal must guard against, the other to what Bengal must hold on to.
Interestingly, with developments such as suspended Trinamool leader Humayun Kabir’s actions about building a ‘Babri Masjid’ in Murshidabad, and reports of attacks on people’s food habits in parts of north India, both campaign narratives feel plausible to voters.
Both parties are now calculating that traditional political messaging like jobs, industry, subsidies, welfare, corruption, law-and-order may not alone be able to play a decisive role in 2026. Identity, in its broadest sense, could be the more powerful trigger.
For the BJP, identity is articulated through faith and national belonging. For Trinamool Congress, identity is articulated through linguistic and cultural rootedness. One centres on who the voter is in relation to religion, the other on who the voter is in relation to Bengal.
The Symbolic War Underneath
This does not imply that either party will abandon political or governance-related issues. Those themes will return closer to polling, as they always do. The fault lines will also be drawn on the announcement of freebies and financial assistance schemes for women like it happened in Bihar.
But the opening shots indicate that psychological priming will precede policy arguments. The early contest is for emotional framing, establishing what the election is ‘really about’ before facts and numbers enter the stage.
There is a broader reading, too. Bengal’s politics is entering a phase where ideological and political competition is increasingly encoded through cultural shorthand. Campaign communication is no longer only informational or argumentative, it is also sensory—invoking sound, aesthetic, nostalgia, and daily routine.
Azaan and machh (fish) operate here not as literal predictions, but as symbolic vocabulary through which voters interpret political intention. The upcoming election, therefore, may not be defined by a simple binary or by antagonism alone. It is shaping into a referendum on which version of West Bengal dominates the public imagination—a religiously aligned state, or a culturally self-protective Bengal.
Click here to add News18 as your preferred news source on Google. December 10, 2025, 11:08 IST
Read More
