West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee held a protest rally against the central govt alleging the non-release of funds to the state on Wednesday. A large washing machine, labelled BJP, was on display at the event, where the Trinamool chief said that BJP has become a washing machine.
While the speech by Mamata Banerjee was filled with familiar rhetoric against the Modi government, a clip from the speech emerged where the WB CM was seen struggling while trying to mock PM Modi in Hindi. She tried to attack PM Modi for rising LPG prices with a couple of lines in Hindi, but she struggled to read the lines from her phone, uttering some incomprehensible words instead.
She reads it like this, “Arrey O… Arrey O Nandalal, Arrey Ooo Nandalal… (long pause) 1149 ke, mayenga gas me, bek… noho.. uno”. After then she gets stuck, and repeats the line, “Arrey O Nandalal, 1149 ke mahanga ka gas me mukka bech raha hai, muft bik raha hai, mukt ka chawl”.
She then realises what she is saying not making any sense, gauging the silence of the audience, and then adds, “ban raha hai, muft ka chal.”
She then makes a third attempt, and this time she says, “Oye O Nandalal, 1149 rupaya ka gas mei, bante hain, pak raha hain, muft ka chal.” She then adds, ‘and Sarkar, how this happens, we will tell in the coming days’.
While what she says is still not easily decipherable, what she wanted to mean is that while the central govt is distributing free rice, the gas needed to cook it costs Rs 1149 per cylinder. She used the Bangla term Chal for rice instead of Chawal in Hindi.
Sharing the clip, BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari said on Twitter, ‘Didi, when you don’t know how to speak Hindi, then why are you making fun of yourself and insulting our official language.’ He then added his own lines, offering to help her. He added, ‘Oh Nandlal, Trinamool leaders and ministers have looted how much wealth by selling government jobs? Arrey O Nandlal, when will ED CBI reach Kalighat, this is the question of the people of Bengal!’
दीदी, जब हिंदी बोलना ना आता हो तो फिर क्यों अपना मजाक बना रहीं हैं और हमारे राजभाषा का अपमान कर रहीं हैं।
— Suvendu Adhikari • শুভেন্দু অধিকারী (@SuvenduWB) March 30, 2023
मैं मदत कर देता हूं:
अरे ओ नंदलाल, तृणमूल नेता मंत्रियों ने सरकारी नौकरी बेचकर लुटा है कितना माल?
अरे ओ नंदलाल, ईडी सीबीआई कालीघाट कब पहुंचेगी, बंगाल की जनता का है ये सवाल! pic.twitter.com/qZ5BFQIHC4
While Mamata Banerjee didn’t name Narendra Modi and used the term Nandalal, it is understood she used it to address the PM only. The term ‘O Nandalal’ is from a famous song by Salil Chowdhury. The song goes like this, ‘Ohe Nandalal, heard that your daughter’s wedding has been fixed? How did you find the groom?’
The Bengal chief minister has started to use the term ‘O Nandalal’ to address PM Modi as a counter to ‘Didi O Didi’ used by the PM to address her. The TMC chief and other leaders have been using the term Nandalal to refer to PM Modi, and also others like Gautam Adani to target them for some time.
In Bengali, Nanda or Nandalal is sometimes used to mock. Like the idiom ‘Jata Dosh, Nanda Ghosh’, which means whenever a mistake happens, it is by Nanda Ghosh, or alternatively, Nanda Ghosh is blamed for every mistake.
The exact Bengali phrase that TMC has devised in this regard is, ‘Ohe Nandalal, 1149 Takai phutse bina paisar chal’ (Ohe Nandalal, free rice is being cooked for Rs 1149). But the CM struggled to recite this line properly in Hindi. Another line being used by TMC is, ‘Ohe Nandalal, they will not give anything to Bangla, won’t pay for hundred days of work? Sold LIC to Adani’.
Apart from the song, Nandalal is found in a famous poem by Dwijendralal Ray. In Hindi, Nandalal refers to Lord Krishna, which means the son of Nanda, who was the foster father of Krishna.
