After Not-So-Sweet Fight With Odisha, Bengal Wins Rasogulla Battle With GI Tag

Two and a half years into the legal battle over the origins of the Rasogulla between the neighbouring states of Odisha and West Bengal, the latter has finally won with officials of the Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks – the Indian Patent Office – declaring that dish originated in Bengal.

However, as Swarajya’s Madhulika Dash pointed out in 2015, the parental issue of ‘Rasogulla belonged to whom’ was partly resolved, thanks to the unearthing of a 400-year-old document that claims that the sweet did owe its birth to Odisha and was addressed as chenna munda (or as some would call it chandamonda) because of its milky brownish colour matching that of a new moon.

Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, meanwhile celebrated this ‘victory’. Food processing minister Abdur Rezzak Mollah called it a victory after two and a half years and said that he was relieved, while education minister Partha Chatterjee said that Odisha ‘unnecessarily’ raised a a dispute. A week ago, Mollah had said that West Bengal “will not let Odisha claim credit” for the origin of the delicacy. “Bengal is the origin of rosogolla... We have decided to move court. Let the court decide. We will pursue the matter till the very end,” Mollah had said.

Back in 2015, Odisha’s science and technology minister Pradip Kumar Panigrahi had said that the findings of more than one committee gave ‘conclusive evidence’ establishing that Rasogulla existed in his state for about 600 years.

Also Read: What’s With The Rasogulla?