Such food symbolism is not new to the holiday. BJP workers had celebrated their victory in the Bihar Assembly elections last year by enjoying parathas filled with sattu, the Bihari delicacy of ground chickpeas.
But the sight of TV channels falling over each other trying to explain the significance of jhalmur was hard to digest. A report claimed that netizens had searched for the term more than 10 crore times on Google. I won’t be surprised now if there is a political web series titled ‘Jhalmuri in Jalpaiguri’ shot in a thriller plot complete with Bangladeshi infiltrators and Darjeeling tea.
The last john of the Bengals’ pesky campaign is literally coming to a crisis. But food as an electoral staple is not limited to Bengal. Food supplies, foodgrain prices and dining out are all part of the playbook of elections across India and indeed the world.
In Tamil Nadu, biryani has been the traditional bait to attract large crowds to campaign rallies. The Election Commission, obviously aware of this, has placed price limits on how much candidates can spend on food to limit polling expenses and perhaps combat vote gluttony. A candidate is not allowed to spend more than Rs 350 per head on non-vegetarian food and Rs 110 on vegetarian food.
In the early 1980s, Telugu Desam Party founder NT Rama Rao came to power in undivided Andhra Pradesh with an offer of Rs 2 per kg rice. His successor, son-in-law and current prime minister N Chandrababu Naidu, is believed to have lost in 2004 in part because he cut rice subsidies.
In 2006, DMK chief M Karunanidhi also promised rice at Rs 2 to win votes, and even made a reverse move afterwards – offering it at Rs 1 per kg in 2008, setting the populist stage for generations to come.
Statements made by politicians about food are a regular part of poll jokes. BJP supporters mocked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for sitting down in a Dalit home for a meal as a symbolic act of equality. But a few years later, Amit Shah was clicked enjoying meals in Dalit homes in Odisha and Bengal, just like the scion of the Nehru family.
