In the middle of the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision exercise, guess who is fighting the hardest to not be seen as the “outsider” in Bengal?Maach, dhaki, Chhau dance and – also – Satyajit Ray. Poila Boisakh, the Bengali New Year, saw the BJP roll out all things Bangla Wednesday in an election contest with the Trinamool Congress that is as much about arithmetic as asmita (pride).AdvertisementNear the Firingi Kalibari Temple in Bowbazar, hundreds of BJP supporters hit the roads with three tableaux, featuring dances to Rabindra Sangeet, as well as the dhunuchi (traditional Bengali incense burner), the dhaki (drum), and Chhau dancers. Hoardings featured, apart from Ray, Rabindranath Tagore and Swami Vivekananda.As three BJP candidates joined the procession – Suvendu Adhikari (Bhabanipur, Nandigram seats); Tapas Roy (Maniktala); and Vijay Ojha (Jorasanko) – a Hindi song came on briefly, but was immediately changed to Rabindra Sangeet.Roy told the crowds, “We start the Bengali New Year with Maa Kali’s blessings”, and ended with “Joy Maa Kali” – a slogan now as ubiquitous as “Jai Shri Ram” in the BJP Bengal campaign.AdvertisementThe day’s push by the BJP started before most of Bengal woke up. A WhatsApp message by the BJP stated that this new year would usher in a “new morning” for Bengalis, and that they should mark it with blowing of conch shells and ululation at 6 am.At Garia in South Kolkata, where TMC leader Aroop Biswas (its candidate from Tollyganj) took out a rally, the star attraction was a huge “Rui (Rohu fish)” he wielded. “Fish sales are banned in BJP-ruled states like Bihar,” said Biswas, reiterating a claim the TMC has been drilling in. “They don’t know our culture… Bengalis are synonymous with fish-eating. No one can stop that,” he said.Earlier, the fish wars saw BJP leaders hold media interviews digging into their favourite maach, or holding it forth the same way as Biswas. Former BJP state president Dilip Ghosh, the party candidate from Kaharagpur-Sadar, is a frequent visitor these days to the local fish market with wife Rinku Majumder. Another former party state chief, Sukanta Majumder, started his campaign in Balurghat from a local fish market.Prime Minister Narendra Modi has joined in, saying at his Haldia rally that in its 15 years in power, the TMC government in Bengal has “failed” to make the state self-sufficient in fish production and also refused to cooperate with the Centre on improving the fisheries sector.On Tuesday, in his address to BJP booth workers virtually, Modi told them “to make a video of how the true Bengali language is spoken”. “Bengal has a rich culture, but due to infiltrators, one is unable to hear the Bengali language,” he said.On Wednesday, Adhikari accused the TMC government of imposing “Arabic culture” on Bengal, adding: “On this New Year, we pledge to safeguard this Bengali Hindu homeland.”The BJP manifesto, apart from its pet issues of infiltration and nationalism, speaks this time about “Bangla’s glory”, “Bengal’s civilisation” and “Bengali Hindu cultural identity”. It promises a Chaitanya Mahaprabhu spiritual circuit, Tagore-inspired cultural centres, Rs 1 lakh annual grant to theatre groups, inclusion of Kurmali and Rajbongshi languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, and honouring of regional icons such as Thakur Panchanan Barma.Senior BJP leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who is spending a rare unbroken stretch of 15 days in Bengal for campaigning, has promised that if the party won, the CM would be “a Bengali-speaking person, born in the state, educated in Bengali medium”.TMC president and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who in 2021 ran on the slogan of “Bangla Nijer Meyekei Chai (Bengal wants its own daughter)’’, leads the offensive from the other side. The TMC rallying slogan this time is, “Jotoi Koro Hamla, Abar Jitbe Bangla (Attack as much as you can, Bengal will win again)”. The refrain in the party posters this time is: “Je lorchhe sobar daake, sei banchabe Bangla Maa-ke (One who is fighting for all, is the one who will save Mother Bengal)”.The BJP, Mamata warns voters, is a “bohirgata (outsider)”, ignorant of the cultural nuances of Bengal. She brings up examples of “insult to Bengali icons”, such as the PM referring to Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay as “Bankim da (elder brother)”. (The next time Modi referred to Chattopadhyay, it was as “Rishi Bankim babu”).Conch shells and ululations mark Mamata’s public rallies. She has also contested the fish numbers for Bengal cited by the PM, adding: “What about the fact that they (BJP governments) themselves do not allow fish in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan? In Delhi, shops selling fish and meat are attacked.”you may likeThe TMC has been telling voters that because of the BJP narrative, Bengali speakers are being seen with suspicion in other states.Senior TMC leader and Mamata’s No. 2 Abhishek Banerjee, addressing a rally in Bishnupur Wednesday, mocked BJP leaders for “going around localities flaunting fish in their hands”. “We don’t do religion-based politics like BJP, we don’t believe in imposing culinary diktat on anyone. That is not Bengal’s culture,” he said.On Wednesday, Modi and Mamata’s Poila Boisakh greetings underlined their respective narratives – in Bengali. After wishing the people happiness and good health, the PM wrote on X, “This is also an occasion to celebrate the timeless richness of West Bengal’s culture that has shaped India’s civilisational spirit.”The CM’s X post said: “Just as our Bengal is a seat of art and culture, it is also a seat of harmony among all religions. Some evil forces have risen to corrupt this Bengal. The zamindars of Delhi are taking away the voting rights of the people. Remember, they will have to be answered democratically.”