What does a daughter mean? - Meme shared by Union minister Babul Supriyo attracts backlash

Trinamul spokesperson Shashi Panja, while condemning the MP’s jibe at Mamata, stated that such posts expose the hollowness of Centre’s Beti Bachao Beti Padhao programme

Babul Supriyo: File picture

Arkamoy Datta Majumdar   |   TT   |   Calcutta   |    28.02.21  : 

Millennium: The third.

Century: 21st.

Year: 2021.

Date: February 27.

Day: Saturday.

In this day and age, sample the idea of a meme: “Beti paraya dhan hoti hai… (A daughter is someone else’s wealth…).”

A Union minister and BJP leader shared the meme on Facebook and Twitter on Saturday morning.

The full meme went like this: an image shows Mamata Banerjee with a mic and the words “I am the daughter of Bengal” written in Hindi. Below the chief minister’s picture is an image of Union home minister Amit Shah with folded hands and the words “Beti paraya dhan hoti hai, iss bar vida kar denge (A daughter is someone else’s wealth, this time we will send her off)”.

“Bangla nijer meyekei chay (Bengal wants its own daughter and no one else)” is the new slogan of the Trinamul Congress.

The sharer of the meme —Union minister of state for environment, forest and climate change Babul Supriyo — took it down from both social media handles as a backlash erupted.

He reposted the meme at 5.35pm. On Facebook, he wrote: “I acknowledge, should not have been shared from my account… That’s it! Period. Nothing more. Nothing less either.”

Later, Supriyo told The Telegraph: “This meme was neither created by me nor does it carry my statement. I’ve two daughters. Hence, I wouldn’t need to learn the definition of misogyny from any other party.”

He posted this message on Twitter too.

BJP parliamentarian Locket Chatterjee found the post “an insult to women”. 

“This is against Bengali culture. Women are always treated as daughters in our society. Insulting them in such a manner is unwelcome,” Chatterjee said.

The meme raises — if not answers — several questions.

Needless to say, the meme betrays a mindset that had been faithfully reproduced in many films.

The BJP itself has faced persistent charges that it is a manuvadi party. Against such a backdrop, it is inexplicable why a Union minister did not think twice before sharing such a meme without a comment condemning it.

At a time the BJP is attacking Rahul Gandhi for his statement on the voters in southern India, the Union minister has shared a meme that uses Hindi but indirectly mentions the slogan of the ruling party in Bengal.

The meme shared by

Was the minister trying to suggest that only those who speak Hindi will get whatever message the meme was trying to convey? If so, it is an insult to the Hindi-speaking citizens of this country.

If the Union minister thought the meme was innocuous, why did he not translate it into Bengali? Did he fear a voter backlash in Bengal?

The meme used the image of the home minister of the country. It is not a small matter: the image is a loud and clear claim that such a regressive thought has the endorsement of the Union home minister although there is nothing yet to suggest that Shah is even aware of such a meme or that his colleague is sharing it. Shah does follow Supriyo on Twitter.

BJP’s Bengal chief Dilip Ghosh had previously said Mamata would have to get back to cooking once she lost the 2021 polls.

“This kind of attack is being meted out at the only women chief minister of the nation. The BJP is merely a tool in the hands of the RSS that always wanted to control women,” said minister and Trinamul spokesperson Shashi Panja said.

She added that Supriyo’s jibe at Mamata exposed the hollowness of the Centre’s Beti Bachao Beti Padhao programme.