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Opinion National Interest PoV 50-Word Edit

ThePrint On Camera Videos In Pictures

Society & Culture Around Town Book Excerpts Vigyapanti The Dating Story

More Judiciary Education YourTurn Work With Us Campus Voice

BJP’s wins in Assam & Bengal show competitive authoritarianism is knocking on India’s door

If moves like SIR and gerrymandering are made all over the country, India will have elections and it will not be a full-fledged dictatorship. But it will not be a democracy either.

It has been nearly two years since the 2024 national elections. How should we conceptualise the state of Indian politics today? Are there any significant reasons for concern?

In January 2024, as the BJP government inaugurated the Ram temple in Ayodhya, it seemed as though Hindu nationalism had become the dominant ideology of India. But a little over four months later, there was a big change in the political climate.  During the Lok Sabha elections campaign, the BJP declared it wanted 370 seats in Parliament and, including its allies, no less than 400 seats. It ended up with only 240 seats, while its allies contributed another fifty.  The BJP could form the government, but its control over the political narrative slipped. The Opposition had the wind in its sails.

Several state elections later, and after a huge victory in West Bengal, the BJP has returned to a position of dominance. Although the two states the BJP won, Bengal and Assam, have a total of 56 seats in Parliament, and the two states it did not win—Tamil Nadu and Kerala—have 59 seats together, Bengal has basically transformed the political discourse in the country.

Tamil Nadu is only slightly smaller than Bengal (39 Lok Sabha seats as opposed to 42) and it witnessed, in these elections, the stunning rise of a new party and a new leader. The two dominant parties of the last several decades were decisively trounced. But Tamil Nadu’s results were read as regionally significant, whereas Bengal’s election outcomes were nationally salient.

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