The poha eaters: BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya’s remark stirs Twitter storm

BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya has attracted a torrent of criticism on social media, particularly in West Bengal, after his comments about the eating habits of labourers .

On January 23, Mr. Vijayvargiya said that he had suspected that there were some Bangladeshis among the construction labourers who had been working at his house after he had found them eating poha (flattened rice that is called chire in Bengal). Chire , a staple food among Bengalis, is consumed across the country, and the BJP leader’s remarks triggered a sharp reaction on Twitter on January 24.

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Speaking at a meeting in Indore to express support for the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), Mr. Vijayvargiya said that some of the labourers working in his house had been eating only poha and that he had found this behaviour “strange” and therefore suspected them to be “Bangladeshis”.

“I suspected these workers were residents of Bangladesh. Two days after I became suspicious, they stopped working at my house. I have not filed any police complaint yet. I only mentioned this incident to warn people,” he was quoted as having said.

Following the comment, Twitter users reacted with a combination of outrage and sarcasm. “I literally eat only poha for breakfast. Guess I’m Bangladeshi too,” tweeted Anshul, another Twitter user. Many remarked that the BJP appeared to have extended their campaign against select foods to include flattened rice after having initially started by targeting “beef”.

“Those who are excited about the comment on chire today, [do] remember that it all started with beef,” commented an activist Sumaan Sengupta. Others asserted that Mr. Vijayvargiya had “no idea” about the breakfast staples of the working class in the country as poha was consumed everywhere — from east to west, north to south.

“If not poha, what else you expect labourers to bring with them — butter chicken?” tweeted Ravinder Singh.

( With PTI inputs )