No political party has achieved what the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has in recent times; that is in the just concluded assembly elections across India.
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M Chuba Ao
No political party has achieved what the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has in recent times; that is in the just concluded assembly elections across India. The BJP won Koridang assembly by-election in Nagaland, picked up another seat in Tripura and did extremely well in Assam.
Down south, the party put up a respectable fight in Kerala and also in Tamil Nadu. But in West Bengal, it created history. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji has himself said:
"Now, with the victory in Bengal, the lotus is blooming from Gangotri to Ganga Sagar". We all are proud about it. In fact, the BJP has brought about a near-perfect electoral realignment especially in a state (West Bengal), where it was not strong earlier.
The key to BJP's success lies in its strong willpower. There was unity of purpose at every level. Once elections were announced, despite weather and other hiccups, we took no time to plunge into action on a mission mode. During the last few months, I have interacted with a number of party colleagues from West Bengal and in Delhi. I also happened to speak to some prominent ministers on impending elections and the state of misgovernance and lawlessness under the Trinamool Congress. Now that we have managed to snatch victory in Bengal, we have proven that our format of synthesis between Development and Nationalism is now the reigning political ideology.
In fact, the new political consciousness is configured into the system. In terms of analysis, we can say that West Bengal as a state till May 4, 2026 remained a far 'destination' for the BJP. That made our fight in the state unusually consequential. The defeat in West Bengal actually means more than just being voted out of power after 15-year rule in a state. Similarly, it is more than a routine win for the BJP.
We have to understand the fallout of this win.
This is, therefore, a time for celebration but also to get our act together to start implementing our Sankalp Patra. If you ask me, we have achieved major electoral victories earlier in states such as Uttar Pradesh in 2017. One big difference is that we have never held power in West Bengal, whereas in Uttar Pradesh, we have had immensely popular dispensations under leaders such as Kalyan Singh ji and Rajnath Singh ji.
The BJP's vote share in Bengal surged to nearly 49% while TMC's allocation fell to about 42%.
This election was more than just anti-incumbency. We had other reasons working. It means the people have shown faith in Narenrdra Modi and in his model of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas. We have often heard another small phrase – Sabka Prayas (everyone's efforts) and this was clearly visible in the massive mandate. In other words, all sections of society – men and women, middleclass, upper middleclass and poor have contributed to BJP’s success.
Here, we may also refer to the Women’s Reservation Bill that was scuttled by the opposition parties. The TMC and even DMK in Tamil Nadu have been punished by the voters for their negative politics.
The challenge for us will be to perform and deliver.
Bengali youths are waiting keenly for industries and jobs. As a Naga, I can relate to this well because youths in my state and also in other parts of the northeast are facing similar problems. But mind you, we may have more complicated tasks in Bengal than we had in Uttar Pradesh in 2017 or what the situation was Bihar in 2005. We will have to ensure a developmental journey undertaken many years back in states such as Gujarat.
I was overwhelmed when one voter was heard saying in a TV programme on the polling day in Kolkata, that West Bengal was once the pride of India. The communists ruined it ... Mamata Banerjee had made it worse. This is why the verdict actually reflects an anguish.
The emergence of a BJP government in Kolkata is extremely significant for us in the North East because West Bengal has certain advantages like river, sea port, minerals and workforce.
All these will help respected PM Modiji to implement his vision for Viksit Bharat and also make the Act East Policy more result-oriented.
(The writer is BJP national vice president. Views are personal)