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Amit Shah's ‘Ae Didi’ jibe echoes Modi's 2021 ‘Didi O Didi’: TMC attacks BJP as Bengal campaign ends for Phase 1 voting
Amit Shah said in Hindi, “Ae Didi, aankh aur kaan khol ke sun lo” — ‘open your eyes and ears and hear this, Didi’ — and went on to claim TMC was going to lose.
The word ‘Didi’, Bangla for elder sister and a beloved moniker given to West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee by her supporters, is at the centre of the state elections again this time, after Amit Shah used it in a phrase taunting the Trinamool Congress supremo.
Shah, the Union home minister, said in Hindi, “Ae Didi, aankh aur kaan khol ke sun lo” — “open your eyes and ears and hear this, Didi” — and went on to claim the TMC was going to be ousted by the voters this time.
This remark caught the attention of the TMC, which saw it an an echo of a “Didi o Didi” by PM Narendra Modi in the 2021 campaign, and alleged that this was a display of “misogyny” by the BJP.
The row came just as campaign for the first phase of the West Bengal assembly elections, scheduled for April 23, ended on Tuesday evening.
What Shah said
Addressing his final public rally of the first phase in West Medinipur, Amit Shah launched a direct and pointed attack on CM Mamata Banerjee. Amidst promises of development, Shah asserted that the TMC’s tenure was nearing its end.
“Tata, bye-bye Didi, aapka samay samapt hua (your time is up),” Shah declared to the crowd, “You (Banerjee and TMC) have troubled the people of Bengal a lot. It's time for you to leave and for the BJP to make an entry."
TMC flags ‘misogyny’
TMC Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose and other party leaders characterised Shah's remarks as indecent and “revelatory”.
The party said the Union minister’s behaviour revealed the “real face of the BJP”. Ghose said that Shah often acts more like an “election minister”, prioritising aggressive campaigning over governance.
She specifically pointed towards BJP’s “Nari Shakti” (women's power) narrative.
“In Parliament, they raise slogans of Nari Shakti and Nari Samman (respect for women),” the TMC stated, “But in reality, they neither believe in Nari Shakti nor respect it. For them, Nari Shakti is just a slogan; they believe in 'Nara Shakti' (power of slogans)." Her reference was to the recent row over the government's new delimitation move for 33% women's quota in Parliament.
The TMC emphasised Mamata Banerjee’s stature as a senior leader who has served as a seven-time member of Parliament and a three-time CM, arguing that Shah’s language was a direct attempt to “insult and attack her dignity”.
Another senior woman leader of the TMC, minister Chandrima Bhattacharya said in a video in Bangla posted by the party, “Today, our home minister once again called our respected CM 'Ae Didi'. It was not something said unintentionally. This way was shown also by PM when he said ‘Didi O Didi’. It is all said deliberately again and again.”
She asserted that this kind of rhetoric won't work in Bengal.
“He said ‘open you eyes and ears’; I tell him to listen now: Bengal will respond to this aptly, and the women will respond to this. Are these your values? Learn Bengal's values; learn how to respect women. The people of bengal will respond to this through their democratic power,” she said.
Echoes of 2021: 'Didi o Didi'
In 2021, some analysts believed the Prime Minister’s tone and the repeated use of “Didi o Didi” backfired for the BJP, which vastly improved its tally yet Banerjee became CM a third time by a wide margin. The TMC had then framed his words as a taunt against the “daughter of Bengal”.
Beyond the personal barbs, Shah’s speech on Tuesday was marked by aggressive stances on national security and law and order. He warned “Mamata’s goons” to stay indoors on polling day, stating, “We will track them down even from the netherworld and send them behind bars”.
He also reiterated the BJP's commitment to removing “infiltrators”, a reference mainly to Muslims who have allegedly came from Bangladesh over the years.
“Today, I am going to tell the infiltrators that the counting is on May 4, and on the 5th, the BJP government will be formed. Get ready to go to Bangladesh quickly," he said.
Polling for the first phase is set for April 23, and the second for April 29.
Earlier this week, the TMC and BJP also clashed as PM Modi termed them ant-women, while Mamata Banerjee underlined how her party has nearly 40% women among its MPs, as against less than 13% for the BJP.
