Bengal’s final, authoritative seal on rosogolla, the syrupy sweet made with 40 per cent sugar, came on November 14, the World Diabetes Day. But that did not rattle a significant chunk of the world’s 250 million-plus Bengalis, who were – till recently – debating the fate of another brand, “Biswa Bangla”, and how it was the only answer to showcase Bengal to India, and the world.

But once rosogollas hit the headlines, everyone forgot “Biswa Bangla”. In London, Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee tweeted it as “a landmark, historic win”. Her cabinet responded within seconds. “Biswa Bangla” disappeared backstage, rosogollas took over.

The victory, like everything else in Bengal, had its political hues because the Bengali rosogolla will now be a distinct product with the Geographical Indication (GI) tag as against rosogollas from next door Odisha, a state ruled by the Biju Janata Dal’s Naveen Patnaik, who has always been extremely supportive of Mamata Banerjee. Some at Nabanna, the Kolkata-based headquarters of the Trinamool Congress, even remembered how Patnaik had taken care of some TMC legislators lodged in Odisha jails after being arrested for their involvement in the ponzi scam, and how they were regularly served rosogollas. The TMC members waited with bated breath for Patnaik to respond. But the Odisha CM attended children’s day celebrations and thanked Virendra Sehwag for honouring an Oriya legend.

The TMC members heaved a sigh of relief.

And, like everything else in Bengal, everyone took pride in this great Bengali victory to retain its rosogolla in its own backyard. The state was already on a high after hosting the FIFA Under-17 World Cup and proving to the Zurich-based soccer body that Kolkata is the best place on earth for crowds. Worse, a week after the finals got over, the state government started charging a Rs 100 plus fee for all those keen to visit the stadium and its outskirts.

So, it was all but expected that Bengal would erupt in euphoria for its victory on rosogollas, a ubiquitous member of the triple Rs of the state, the other being Rabindra Sangeet and (Satyajit) Ray. Like the much-quoted line of Bengalis that a Ray film is a Ray film is a Ray film, the same – claimed many in television debates, Facebook and Twitter arguments – must now be said about the much-loved sweetmeat. A senior bureaucrat of the department of science in the state, Mahua Hom Chowdhury, said she worked selflessly to gain the GI tag for rosogollas as they are “children of Bengal”.

Some even remembered how Sunil Gavaskar, the best Indian opener of all time, was constantly offered rosogollas and sweet curd by veteran Bengal cricketer Pankaj Roy, whose house was right in front of the shop of Nabin Chandra Das, the celebrated ancestor of Bengal confectioner K.C. Das & Sons, makers of rosogollas. Even Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had offered rosogollas to Daniel Ortega and how the Nicaraguan President ordered over 100 sealed tins from a Delhi store headquartered in the Walled City.

Suddenly “Biswa Bangla”, a brand with the tremendous potential to generate business, was no longer making breaking headlines. It should have, ostensibly because the CM and members of her cabinet were in London to seek investment.

Those waxing eloquent about the victory forget that Kolkata’s suave Marwari businesswoman Swati Saraf now produces over 170 multi-coloured flavours of rosogollas and its green chilli, its vodka and breezer varieties are gaining popularity. And that there are other variations in the state, rosogollas are a Rs 4,000-crore business involving some 100,000 families. TMC officials told reporters in Kolkata that efforts were on to create a unique logo that will help rosogollas identify only with Bengal, probably like the charging rhino of Assam. In Delhi’s predominantly Bengali neighbourhood of Chittaranjan Park, shopkeepers offered 10 rosogollas free for a 50-plus purchase.

In comparison, the “Biswa Bangla” logo, which many claim was designed by Mamata Banerjee herself to sell handcrafted products from Bengal, and project her state at global and domestic forums, has died a quiet, unnoticed disappearance, if not death.

No one asked Abhishek Banerjee, the CM’s nephew, why he had staked his claim on “Biswa Bangla” and why did he eventually drop the claim after being persuaded by the state government. The row over the logo erupted days after Mukul Roy, once second-in-command in the TMC, kicked up a controversy over its ownership. Roy, who recently joined the BJP, had alleged that Abhishek had secured the “Biswa Bangla” trademark as its proprietor. However, the CM, currently in London to seek investments for the state, pushed her bureaucrats to go into an overdrive to set things right.

The logo, if nurtured well, could have been a great tag for the state and its products, especially around the time when the CM and her ministers have been trying unsuccessfully to bring the much-needed investment to Bengal.

Stuck between the two brands was a state that has, for decades, got nothing in investment but false promises. Such has been the desperation for investment in Bengal that the CM even recently went to Antilla, the home of Mukesh Ambani, Reliance Industries chairman and the richest Indian.

No one knows what Ambani told the Bengal CM. Nor did she share details of her conversation.

The rosogolla debate and the subsequent victory have shown many where Bengal’s priorities lie. Probably in its zeal to get a GI tag for everything, the state government has even tagged the Gobindobhog variety of rice as a sweetmeat.