Jhal muri — Bengal’s favourite street snack made of puffed rice — and Rabindra Sangeet became the twin themes of celebration at the state BJP headquarters on Monday as the party cruised towards a landslide victory in the state.
Jhal muri acquired political significance after Prime Minister Narendra Modi bought a packet of the snack following his campaign rally in Jhargram on April 29, drawing sharp criticism from Mamata Banerjee.
Muri, or puffed rice, is a staple food across south Bengal, particularly in districts such as Bankura, Purulia, Birbhum, East Burdwan and parts of Hooghly. BJP leaders immediately seized on the symbolism, and party sources said Modi’s jhal muri gesture had resonated with Bengali food sentiments.
The BJP usually distributes laddus to mark electoral victories. But interestingly, this time, jhal muri emerged as the food of celebration — an unprecedented departure.
“Jhal muri represents Bengal. It became particularly significant after Modi ji bought and ate this staple Bengali food,” said a BJP leader.
As the scoreboard started tilting heavily in favour of the BJP, packets of muri — especially jhal muri — began arriving at the BJP’s state headquarters. Some came in packaged form, while inside the BJP media cell and leaders’ offices, workers mixed puffed rice with traditional ingredients such as chanachur.
“Please have some jhal muri,” a national BJP leader said, offering a packet to a group of journalists who had arrived to meet him.
“There are laddus or sweets like sandesh and rasogolla as part of victory celebrations. But this is probably the first time jhal muri has become the food of celebration,” he added.
Besides jhal muri, the Bengal BJP unit also arranged a simple Bengali lunch with fish curry. During the campaign, the Trinamool Congress had extensively alleged that the BJP would not allow Bengalis to have their favourite fish on their plates.
“People of Bengal understood that it was a false campaign meant to mislead them. Though it was not planned, serving fish at lunch for party workers also carried a message,” said a BJP leader.
The Bengal connection was not limited to food alone. It was equally visible in the music chosen for the celebrations.
While supporters outside danced to several popular songs, including BJP campaign numbers such as Parivartan Yatra and Chai BJP Sarkar, the corridors of the BJP state office in Salt Lake echoed with Rabindra Sangeet.
It was around 11am and the BJP was leading in 165 seats. Union minister and election chief Bhupender Yadav, Bengal election co-incharge Biplab Deb, senior leader Sisir Bajoria, BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya and a few national leaders were busy discussing the outcome.
Yadav then asked for Rabindra Sangeet to be played — Mukto Karo Bhoi — and listened to the song intently.
Soon the room was filled with the famous Tagore lines: “Mukto karo bhoi, apna majhe shakti dharo, nijere koro joy” (cast off fear, gather strength within yourself, conquer your own self).
The choice of song also dovetailed with a BJP slogan repeatedly invoked by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the campaign — bhoi (fear) out, bharosa (assurance) in.
Not just inside that room, several Rabindra Sangeet numbers could be heard playing through the music systems installed across the BJP state office in Salt Lake.