‘Parota vs Paratha’: TMC Accused Of Fuelling Linguistic Divide By Putting Posters Denouncing ‘North Indian Spellings’

"Parota is better than Paratha", "Bengal is better than Bangal" (the way non-Bengalis pronounce Bengal) - anonymous white and maroon flexes and stickers appearing all over Kolkata and its suburbs have created a buzz, with speculations rife about those behind the exercise and the politics playing out in the background.

The flexes written in Bengali, with identical measurements and designs, started appearing from last week with the tagline "bhalo bhasha" (good language) and "nijer bhasha nijer thak" (let your language be yours).

One of the flexes apparently refer to former Indian cricket captain and Bengali icon Sourav Ganguly - "Saurav theke Sourav bhalo" (Sourav is better than Saurav).

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), however, sees the hand of the state's ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) behind the "flex campaign".

"They are trying to bring about a linguistic polarisation and foment unrest. It's a fruitless effort to stop our victory march by driving a wedge between Bengalis and non-Bengalis," said state BJP general secretary Sayantan Basu.

To buttress their point, BJP leaders pointed to one of the flexes that read "Swachh Bharater theke poricchono Bharat bhalo, Bolteo, Shunteo" (Clean Bharat is better than Swachh Bharat, be it in saying, or hearing).

"The dig taken at the Central government's Swachh Bharat campaign gives out the game. The political motive is clear," said the leader.

(With Inputs from IANS)