On Saturday, Bengal celebrated ‘jamai shoshti’, an annual festival that revolves around pampering the sons-in-law (jamai) of the families. The day is spent in smothering the jamai with gifts, savoury food, and delectable sweets, which form an important part of the one-day festival.
The in-laws traditionally celebrate familial bonds by indulging in the most exquisite sweets, some of which are specially crafted to suit the occasion.
Breaking away from the customary sweets that are available in the market around this time of the year, certain sweetmeat shops in Bengal have added a new range of ‘shondesh’ to their racks. What sets these apart, are the strategic slogans engraved on them – such as ‘Jai Shri Ram’, ‘Jai Hind’, and ‘Joy Bangla’.
These come at a time when the political scenario in Bengal is tense, primarily over the CM Mamata Banerjee’s outrage over slogans like Jai Shri Ram and the Bharatiya Janata Party cadre's insistence on using it. Several people have taken to social media since, some questioning why the slogans bother her, others rebuking her knee-jerk reactions, with the rest pointing out that it amounts to politicising a religious statement.
Cashing in on the hot topic of the moment, marketers thought of attracting the sweet-toothed Bengalis with the special milk-made desserts adorned with the contentious slogans. Each of these sweets is reportedly priced anywhere between Rs 100 to Rs 200 per kg, according to a DNA report.
Customers had reportedly queued up since morning to buy the sweets with a message of their choice. Shopkeepers informed that there wasn’t an iota of hatred, political alignment, or bigotry in the making of the sweets, but pure delight and marketing skill.
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