It’s Fishy And Sonia Gandhi Needs A New Speech Writer

Congress president Sonia Gandhi needs a new speech writer. Her election rally speeches in West Bengal taste low, literally in content and substance.

Speaking in Canning, Sonia Gandhi questioned how Prime Minister Narendra Modi would protect the borders when he is “unable to save fish” in Indian waters from foreign fishermen.

“The BJP and the Trinamool Congress have banned fishermen’s trawlers, but neighbouring countries’ fishermen are openly fishing in the Indian waters. Prime Minister Modi, who makes tall promises regarding border security, is unable to save your fish. How will he protect our borders? The recent Pathankot incident is a living example of it,” Sonia Gandhi said in an election rally in South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal.

“About the poor condition of fishermen in the coastal areas, steps taken by the Modi government is depriving fisherman of their employment,” she said.

“There was time when Hilsa was exported from Canning. Now Hilsa is being imported. The Congress government had taken many steps to help the fishermen. The Modi government is interested in taking away the employment of fishermen,” Sonia Gandhi alleged.

The fact is that there has been general decline in Hilsa catch due to various environmental reasons. The fish is caught from coastal and estuarine waters before they migrate upstream for spawning. However, change in the Hooghly estuary’s water regime has led to a decline in fish production. Many studies have suggested a strategic change in the management and preservation of the Hilsa domain to save the fish from extinction.

Even Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee did not escape Sonia Gandhi’s fish analogy. She called the ruling TMC a “bad fish” which had polluted Bengal and said, “We had trusted Mamataji as she was for ‘poriborton’ and had an electoral alliance with the TMC family in 2011. But she never fulfilled her poll pledges and duped the people of Bengal”.

“Bengal was once famous for fish but now fish has to be imported here. Even the famous delicacy of Hilsa fish no more comes here because of the bad fish. Neither Mamata nor Modi tried to ensure the betterment of fishermen. The BJP and the TMC are working together against the interests of fishermen,” she told the crowd, comprising fishermen as Canning is by the sea.

West Bengal is just the beginning of the long poll season. Tamil Nadu and Kerala are next and Sonia Gandhi should improve the quality of her speech if she wants to make sense in highly urbanised South India.