THE DIE IS CASTE

On her way to a rally in Khatra in Bankura district on November 23, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee made a halt at Bankia, a village of 116-odd Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) families.

- Romita Datta

Sitting on a charpoy in a courtyard, she encouraged the womenfolk to talk about their problems and asked if the free rations promised to the poor by her government were reaching them. Within hours, social media was flooded with pictures of Mamata in the village.

Not long ago, on November 5, the 350-odd SC residents of Chaturthi village in Bankura had rubbed shoulders with another VVIP. Union home minister Amit Shah not only ate lunch at a Dalit home but also posed for photos with the family. “Had amazing Bengali food at Vivishan (Bibhishan) Hansdaji’s house. No words can express their warmth and hospitality,” read his thank you message on Twitter.

On his two-day visit to Bengal, Shah also broke bread with a Matua family in North 24 Parganas. Matias, a Hindu Dalit community influential in over 50 assembly seats, originally migrated from East Pakistan at the time of Partition. Making up 17.4 per cent of the state’s 100 million population, their votes are much coveted by both the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the BJP. Mamata was quick to dismiss Shah’s visit as a gimmick. “His (Shah’s) lunch, of basmati rice and posto bora (poppy seed fritters), came from a five-star hotel,” she claimed.