As the BJP swept to power in West Bengal with 207 Assembly seats, Kolkata’s Burrabazar has begun reflecting the state’s shifting political support in its own way.
In the narrow lanes lined with wholesale shops, saffron banners and Ram-Hanuman flags are selling rapidly, while stacks of Trinamool flags remain unsold in godowns after the end of the party’s 15-year rule.
Burrabazar has always been the go-to market for bulk orders of textiles, clothes and food products. Established in the colonial era, it is the largest market in Kolkata, where the crowd is always bustling, and where the hustle culture existed long before it was a cool hipster thing.
Shiva Textiles, owned by Sanjay Ballavdas Chandarana is one of the larger shops in the market. Specialised in all things flag, from national to political, the shop is a maze to traverse through, with coloured flags spewing out of every corner.
“During elections, every kind of party flag gets a huge spike in sales. We manufacture them all,” said Chandarana.
Chandarana claims he had been informed by one of the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) leaders to manufacture more flags of the party, and had ordered in bulk ahead of the election results.
He is happy he listened. Chandarana started his shop just two years prior and is proud to be the youngest in the block to have the largest collection of political flags.
“Now, because BJP has won, we are seeing high sales of their flags, be it party workers of BMS or people changing political colours. People who were hesitant before to be actively seen as BMS have started buying flags now as well,” added Chandarana.
Asked if they sold any Trinamool flags, Chandarana informed there were zero sales after the election results.
Novelty Traders, one shop after Chandarana’s shop is the go-to spot for Hanuman- and Ram-etched triangular flags.
“People, common people are now buying the flags of Ram and Hanuman. The demand has been unexpected. Usually, after elections, the flag market goes very flat. This year has been truly an exception,” said Rohit Gupta, the owner.
Gupta explained that they can understand who the party workers are and who the common people are depending on order size.
Squeezed between these two bigger shops is Ravindranath Singh, selling only Trinamool flags. With sadness in his eyes, he informs that there has hardly been any sales.
“People are now only interested in buying the god’s flags. We will be relieved if the Trinamool flags are sold out quickly,” said Singh.
Owner Niraj Tantia is the last shop on the row of flag sellers. While he was busy attending customers, his assistant Ajit Kumar dived into the various party flags they had sold.
“Apart from the usual two goliaths in this election, we have sold a lot of Indian Secular Front flags, CPM flags, and even SUCI flags,” said Kumar.
“Though now we are no longer making Trinamool flags to avoid any losses or storage problems in our godowns, BJP flags and the Ram-Hanuman flags are flying off the shelves,” said Kumar.