Trinamool MP Derek O'Brien bit into a slice of watermelon on TV to mock the CPM and Congress alliance.
Highlights
- Trinamool Congress MP bit into a slice of the fruit on TV to mock the CPM
- Derek O'Brien called the alliance the Congress Party of India (Marxist)
- CPM-Congress retaliated to the fruity insults with a veggie: the pumpkin
As the political heat grows with the advancing summer in Bengal, the assembly polls have acquired a fruity-veggie flavor. But instead of the ever popular green coconut, watermelon is in -- especially after a Trinamool MP bit into a slice of the fruit on TV to mock the CPM and Congress alliance - a first in Bengal.
Watermelon, or "Tormuj", as the Bengalis call it, is green on the outside and red within - a peaceful existence of colours that used to lie at the opposite ends of the political spectrum.
Senior Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien, though, insisted the two parties have always been together. "They have always been together. The watermelons. So they have this alliance going.
Together, they are the Congress Party of India (Marxist). It's a shameless alliance," he added.
The CPM-Congress side has retaliated to the fruity insults with a vegetable just as large: the pumpkin, "Kumro" in Bengali. Green on the outside and saffron inside, they say, just like the Trinamool and the BJP.
The analogy is currently making the rounds of social media but party leaders say it will soon be the motif of all their wall graffitti.
"The pumpkin manifests the match fixing," said senior CPM leader Ritabrata Banerjee. "It is good for health of both BJP and the Trinamool. Both need each other". Without TMC, the BJP is in trouble in Rajya Sabha, so the Saradha probe slowed showed down, he explained.
Asked about CPM's veggie taunt, Derek O'Brien smiled. "Imitation is the best form of flattery," he said.
The respective virtues of the greens have also become a matter of contest. The CPM says watermelons are tastier. Trinamool says watermelon is short-lived. Pumpkins are forever. "Hybrid ka zamana hai, you can get watermelons the year round," the CPM has shot back.
The argumentative Bengalis are loving it.
Asked what's selling more, a green grocer, Sanjay, promptly said watermelon. "Pumpkin less, guess it is because of the heat," he added.
Asked what's tastier, his customer, Dolon Ghosh, opted for the pumpkin. "Watermelon causes infection," she added.
"No difference between them... both are the same," scoffed Rahul Sharma, another customer.