‘Priyanka Didi’ posters copy-paste politics: TMC

Kolkata: It’s Didi versus ‘Priyanka Didi’ in Bhowanipore. Multiple posters seeking votes for BJP’s Bhowanipore candidate Priyanka Tibrewal that have come up in Bhowanipore mention her as ‘Priyanka Didi’.

CM Mamata Banerjee is referred to as Didi (elder sister) in Bengal and even outside. The Didi debate, which had flared up in poll-bound Bengal, has resurfaced ahead of Bhowanipore bypoll. Poll temperatures had soared after PM Narendra Modi’s reference to “Didi-o-Didi” in his election campaigns. CM Banerjee had referred to these as taunts at her. Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra had dubbed it an “insult to women”.

Referring to vote-for-Priyanka Didi posters, Trinamool dubbed it copy-paste politics. “The Prime Minister used to mock our chief minister by calling her Didi-o-Didi and today we find the BJP candidate suddenly dropping her surname and calling herself Didi with photographs of Narendra Modi beside her. This is called copy-paste politics,” said Baishwanar Chattopadhyay, Banerjee’s chief election agent.

“BJP has done nothing to promote their candidate and is therefore using the name the CM is addressed by across India. For us here in Bhowanipore and Bengal, Didi means Mamata Banerjee,” he added.

Tibrewal said: “She is Mamata Didi, and I am Priyanka Didi. Bengal’s people started calling me Priyanka Didi when I was fighting cases for them. Didi is also a Hindi word.”

She dismisses questions on whether this is an attempt to reach out to 60% Bengali-speaking voters in Bhowanipore. “When did the word Didi become Bengali or non-Bengali,” she said. “This Bengali and non-Bengali debate is a non-issue. Ultimately what matters is people’s love and support. When I fought cases, I didn’t know their surnames. Neither did they ask mine,” she added.

Among Bhowanipore’s 2 lakh voters, around 40% don’t speak Bengali but most are old Kolkata residents.

CM Banerjee refers to Bhowanipore as “mini-India”, repeatedly saying that both Bhowanipore and Bharat start with B. “The road from Bhowanipore will lead us to India,” she said on Sunday, speaking in Bengali, Hindi and English.

Psephologist Biswanath Chakraborty said Dada or Didi is used in Bengal to establish an immediate informal connection.