Beyond 'Machh Chor': How Songs Shaped the Bengal Elections |
Kolkata: With Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee refusing to resign, West Bengal governor R.N. Ravi dissolving the state assembly, and chief secretary Dushyant Nariala managing the transition of power as approved by the governor, a lot has happened in the past week leading up to the formation of the new government on May 9. Parallelly, various pockets in the state reported post-poll violence. Midweek on May 6, just days ahead of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s chief minister announcement, Suvendu Adhikari’s personal assistant Chandranath Rath was killed by miscreants in his car. The investigation is on.
However, among these worrying signs of where the state is headed, the most talked-about discussion is something every Bengali household holds dear – fish. This new viral sensation is not the “machhe-bhaate Bangali”, the fish-rice identity typically associated with Bengalis; instead it is a song on TMC candidate from Bhangar, Saokat Molla, who was dubbed a “machh chor” or fish thief in it.
This catchy song was all over social media just ahead of the elections, with its captivating words, rhythm, beats and the visuals using artificial intelligence. Its popularity even transcended class barriers. So much so that even after TMC’s defeat in the election, the song was played in victory rallies from Kolkata’s Ballygunge to North Bengal’s Balurghat, from Medinipur to Maldah as found on social media handles.
Not only that, a parody version was made on now-former chief minister Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Mr. Abhishek Banerjee.
A few lines of the original song go:
“Notorious criminal Bhangore-te eshe/
Bolir patha prarthi hoye Ꮶhoka gelo phense…
Ꮇachh chor, machh chor (Տaokat machh chor)
Bom bandha kaaj or (Տaokat machh chor)”
(A notorious criminal has been made a scapegoat in Bhangar…
Saokat is a fish-thief and he makes bombs.)
“1, 2, 3, 4 Saokat machh chor
Canning’er haramkhor Saokat machh chor”
(1, 2, 3, 4, Saokat is a fish thief
A scoundrel from Canning, Saokat is a fish-thief)
Bhangar, a restive region of Kolkata suburb, is famous for its Bheri or fisheries and a huge chunk of the population there is engaged in this business. The long standing allegation was that Molla extracts almost the entire profit percentage of the poor fisher folks. His colleague-turned-rival from the same party, Kaizer Ahmed, had told a local Bengali channel, “Years back when Saokat was too poor to run his family, he used to steal fish and sell it to local markets to earn a livelihood. Thus, I named him machh chor.”
Though Kaizer emphasised he did not have any role in this song, Saokat lost from his Canning (East) seat against Naushad Siddique, sitting MLA of the Indian Secular Front (ISF), an ally of the Left parties, by a margin of 32,000 votes. It was alleged that the song was created by the ISF, though the party never acknowledged it.
Molla, visibly upset as he spoke on Bengali media channels, said, “This was done in bad taste and would go to court.”
The “Machh-Chor” track is the kind of unapologetic, cheeky creation that turns local gossip into full-blown public theatre. With its mock-heroic tone and deliberately over-the-top accusations of fish theft, the song gleefully exaggerates the figure of the politician into a near-mythical, less a criminal, mastermind. With its mock-heroic tone and exaggerated accusations of fish theft, the song turns the politician into a comic, larger-than-life figure rather than a serious criminal mastermind. He was portrayed as a hapless, fish-greedy anti-hero caught in the court of public opinion.
What makes it click is the razor-sharp use of everyday humour:........