Modi Banks On Bengali To Woo Masses In Poll-Bound Bengal

Kolkata: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been touring districts in poll-bound Bengal. After his Kharagpur visit on Saturday, he is set to visit Kanthi in East Midnapore on March 28.

Earlier on Thursday, the PM had addressed a public rally in Purulia.

With the more and more people flocking to his poll rallies, Modi has been increasingly using more and more Bengali in his speeches to woo the masses — from “ashol poriborton” to “cholbe na” and “Didi khela shesh”.

Needless to say, his followers are lapping it up. And, if you thought that twin or single words are easy to memorise, then think twice. The PM has been using complete sentences in between his Hindi.

Modi, whose origin is from Gujarat and has always been known as Modi ‘bhai’, can state claim to his being Modi ‘dada’. People address each other as dada or didi in Bengal, like Mamata Banerjee is known as Didi.

It is pertinent to mention that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had been accusing the PM in her public meetings that he reads Gujarati script while speaking in Bengali.

On Thursday, Modi spoke impromptu in Bengali. “Ottachar onek korecho Didi. Rukhe darabe Banglar manush. Ma Durgar ahsirbade korbe tomay porasto (Didi you have done lot of atrocities. People of Bengal will stop all this. With blessings from goddess Durga we will defeat you).”

On Mamata’s slogan of “khela hobe”, Modi retorted, “Didi bole khela hobe, ami boli, bikash hobe, chakri hobe, jubok shoktir bikash hobe.” (when Didi says we will play games, I say there will be development, job creation, development of youth power).

On Saturday, the PM said he wanted to fast-track development in the state in order to restore the glory of Bengal and create “shonar Bangla”.

Speaking at Kharagpur in West Midnapore, Modi said, “You have given the Congress, Left and Trinamool Congress 70 years. Instead, give us 5 years, bring us to power this time and we will do development which Bengal lost in all these years. We will bring ‘ashol poriborton’ (real development).”

He emphasised this with the slogan “Bangal mein is bar BJP Sarkar” (this time BJP will come to power in Bengal). “This time we will bring in joy for you and no more fear should prevail in Bengal,” said Modi.

Words like tolabaji (extortion), and bhaipo (nephew) have been oft-repeated by the PM in his earlier speeches too.

Again on Saturday, he said, “Didir pathshala te syllabus hochhe syndicate raj ar tolabaji.” (In Didi’s school the syllabus includes extortion and syndicate raj).

Tajender Pal Singh Bagga, Delhi spokesperson of BJP said, “Modi ji respects all languages and wants to know more about the culture of the place he visits. He feels when he speaks to people in their native language, there is more connect with them.”

So, next time we come across Narendra Damodardas Modi, we may well greet him as Modi dada.