Some Calcuttans are buying laddoos weighing 50 kilos or more as offerings to mark wish fulfilment.

The BJP has placed orders running into thousands of boxes of laddoos and assorted cashews.

At 4pm on Friday, Gokul Sweets on Lord Sinha Road said its laddoo stocks had been exhausted.

The swearing-in of Bengal’s new government is set to be accompanied by a sweet feast on a scale rarely seen before.

Nothing captures the frenzy more than the giant “sawa-moni laddoo”. “There is a tradition among a section of non-Bengalis of offering sawa-moni laddoos when their wishes are fulfilled. We have been receiving bulk orders for such laddoos,” said Parikshit Gupta of Gupta Brothers in Salt Lake.

“People placed orders in the morning and collected the laddoos by late afternoon. For many, it seemed like a form of wish fulfilment after a new party was voted to power,” Gupta said.

Sawa-moni refers to 40 kilos — one moni — plus a quarter, or 10 kilos. Together, the term refers to 50 kilos of sweets.

Laddoos and pedas are flying off the shelves. In their absence, almost anything saffron-coloured is finding buyers.

Saffron rosogollas at a store

Dhiman Das of KC Das, the 96-year-old sweet shop, said: “We have tried a new variety of rajbhog with a hint of kesar to give it a saffron hue, and it has been a hit. We have named it Modishree.”

Gokul Sweets has been flooded with orders for laddoos over the past few days. At ₹680 a kilo, staff said “kilos after kilos” vanished from the counters.

“Laddoos remain one of our highest-selling items because of the pure ghee we use. This is followed by barfi and peda,” said Sanjay Todi of Gokul Sweets. “There has been a huge sale of laddoos over the past few days.”

On April 26, KC Das had delivered “kesar rajbhog and aam-bhora sandesh” for Modi’s dinner at Lok Bhavan.

Ahead of the poll results, many sweet shops had kept their options open. Several stocked green sweets, including gondhoraj rosogollas and sweets carrying “Joy Bangla” messages. There was also the “red velvet sandesh”, flavoured with rose water and named Lal Salaam.

Those sweets have now disappeared from the shelves.

The ubiquitous kaju barfi has suddenly acquired an orange hue to match the flavour of the season. Several shops have also added a dash of orange crush to traditional kalakand.

“Late in the afternoon of May 4, when the results became clear, more than 5,000 orange rosogollas were sold within a few hours. We were not prepared for the sudden surge in demand,” Gupta said.

At a felicitation ceremony in New Town on May 7 for the three new BJP MLAs from Bidhannagar, Rajarhat New Town and Rajarhat Gopalpur, the BJP distributed saffron packets carrying the party logo and wrapped with orange ribbons inscribed with “sabka saath, sabka vikas”. The packets contained laddoos and orange-coloured cashews.

Touch of Bengal

Sources in the BJP said orders had been placed with KC Das for 50 tins of Bengal’s rosogollas for guests attending the swearing-in ceremony, including chief ministers from other states.

“Six mishti shop owners from across Bengal have been selected to set up stalls at the Brigade Parade Grounds on Saturday to sell sweets during the swearing-in. The party wants to add a dash of sweetness for those attending the function,” a senior BJP leader said.