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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

Why Bengal’s political outcome will affect democracy globally

For Hindu nationalists, the size of the Muslim electorate lends extraordinary significance to Bengal. It's one of the biggest prizes for the BJP’s ideological project.

Another election season is upon us. Four states—Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal—and one Union Territory, Puducherry, are going to the polls.  Will we have politics as usual? Or are there any issues that are especially worthy of note?

The first thing to observe is that these state elections are not taking place in the regions of BJP’s virtual hegemony. The BJP does have enormous control of the Northeast now, including the state of Assam. But without winning Bengal, no party can say that it has supreme control of the East—just as without acquiring primacy in Maharashtra, we could not say that the BJP had a dominant sway in the West, despite its political mastery of Gujarat for over two decades.

Why is that so? Maharashtra and Bengal are, in terms of population, the second and third largest states of India—both now bigger than Bihar after its bifurcation. But they have also been historically significant since British rule. It is not often recognised that unlike Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, capitals of Maharashtra and Bengal, were both fishing villages in pre-British times. With the rise of the British, they became two of the most important cities of India—politically, economically and culturally.  They led the arrival of modernity with all its promise and pitfalls.

In the 2014 Parliamentary elections, BJP won only two out 42 seats in Bengal, and in 2016 state Assembly elections, only three out of 294 seats.  But by campaigning heavily and outspending all other parties by a huge margin after that, it created a substantial base, becoming the second most important party in the state, behind only the........

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