However, as the results started appearing on May 4, it became clear by afternoon that the saffron party for the first time was on the way to form the government on its own in the eastern state. It secured 207 seats — a clear two-third majority — while TMC was reduced to 80. The saffron party defeated TMC from North Bengal to Junglemahal to Presidency region. Notably, some key districts of Presidency region like Kolkata, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, and Howrah were known as strong bastions of TMC. This time — barring South 24 Parganas — the saffron party has secured more seats than TMC in these districts. Even in South 24 Parganas, the saffron party has been able to increase its seat share from 0 to 11. Even chief minister Mamata Banerjee herself lost to BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari, also the main Opposition leader in the outgoing assembly, in her traditional Bhabanipur seat by more than 15,000 votes.

True that the results of West Bengal reflected huge anti-incumbency against 15 years of Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress style of governance. There were allegations of rampant corruption, vindicated by the School Service Commission scam, prompting the Supreme Court to annul over 25,000 teacher and non-teacher jobs. However, it would be too simplistic to ignore the role of religious polarisation. Modi, in his speeches, played the identity card when he alleged that the state would turn into Bangladesh if TMC rule continued.

This was Modi’s style of Bengali identity politics to counter Mamata’s regionalism card, and it carried a subtle but clear Hindutva message. Voters — particularly Hindus — understood what Modi was trying to convey to them. The saffron party campaigned among the majority Hindus to consolidate against TMC government by highlighting what it described as the latter’s minority appeasement policies. Although Mamata herself tried to counter through her own version of Hindutva, the majority of the Hindus were not persuaded. Last year’s communal violence in Murshidabad, where two Hindus were lynched to death by a violent mob, played a major role in turning a large section of the Hindus against the TMC government. This anger was utilised by the BJP through its Hindutva agenda, combined with Bengali identity.

This template was earlier used by the BJP in the northeastern state of Assam in 2016. Since then, it has been using this strategy to turn the northeastern state into its bastion. Along with Bengal, the saffron party returned to power in this state for the third time with a strong majority. The saffron party secured 82 seats, crossing the majority mark of 64 for the first time. The party led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) got a massive mandate of 102 out of total 126 seats.

This is because of the strong Hindutva card played by the chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma-led BJP, reinforced by Modi himself. During the campaign, Modi invoked Hindutva themes and accused the Congress of pursuing appeasement policies (read pro-Muslim policies), including allegedly providing land to infiltrators (read Bangladeshi Muslims) and blamed it for changing the demography of the state (read an increase of Bangladeshi Muslims). He also promised to implement the Uniform Civil Code, a key agenda of the Hindutva ideology, if the party comes to power for the third time.

The dominant Assamese Hindu voters appear to have correctly interpreted the subtle Hindutva message woven with Assamese regionalism. This is actually an example of blending the Hindutva template with Assamese regionalism. While Congress has its own history of mistakes in the state, the saffron party’s Hindutva ideology, woven with Assamese regionalism, has accelerated the grand old party’s decline in the state. The party is facing an identity crisis.

This is reflected in Congress’s disastrous performance in Upper Assam and North Assam, the two regions where Assamese Hindus are influential. State Congress president and party’s chief ministerial candidate Gaurav Gogoi lost the Jorhat seat by more than 23,000 votes. While Congress tried to address this by breaking its alliance with Baddruddin Ajmal-led All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), seen as a party representing the interests of illegal immigrants by the majority Hindu Assamese, it seems to have failed to convince the majority.

While the Opposition parties like Congress and other non-NDA regional parties continue to portray BJP as a threat to the country's democracy, they have not struggled to effectively counter the saffron party’s blend of Hindutva and state-specific regionalism. The Opposition, left with no option, has often resorted to allegations of vote manipulations against the BJP. In some cases, this may be true, but that does not change the nature of BJP’s electoral success.. This seen more as reactions of a defeated camp. On the other hand, as the results of Assam and West Bengal show, the BJP has been successful in replicating its Hindutva template from Assam to Odisha to West Bengal. These results reflect acceptance and expansion of BJP’s Hindutva ideology and its brand of politics, suggesting that this template is here to stay for the long term. (IPA Service)