Cooked up

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is determined to woo the Muslim vote in the state and has taken to making comments that are so obtuse as to make her auditors wince. Addressing a rally a couple of weeks ago ahead of the Panchayat elections, she sought to establish her pro-Muslim credentials by telling the audience she could cook biryani, firni and narkel naru. The first two might be dishes that have a Mughal, and therefore Islamic, significance, but the last is a quintessentially Bengali sweet that is a common offering in pujas. Although, it is true that Bengalis love their food, surely she could have come up with something better than her culinary skills as a reason to vote for her party.