Al Jazeera reports: Fury as millions lose voting rights in India’s Bengallist 4 of 4India loses its last left-wing government after five decadesend of listThe BJP retained Assam for a third consecutive term, while the coalition it is a part of also returned to power in Puducherry. The southern state of Tamil Nadu saw the rise of yet another film star, following in the state’s long tradition of cine icons turning into mass political leaders. Advertisement Some 150 years later, the British partitioned Bengal in 1905 – the first major instance of division along religious lines in modern South Asia.
He opposed a special status granted to the Indian-administered Kashmir after India and Pakistan emerged as independent nations in 1947. Modi fulfilled Mukherjee’s dream by scrapping the disputed region’s partial autonomy weeks after coming into power for a second term in 2019.Addressing his party workers on Monday night, Modi said the West Bengal win “would bring peace to his [Mukherjee’s] soul”.BJP supporters celebrate the Bengal victory near a counting station in Kolkata, India [Piyal Adhikary/EPA]But despite its history of religious cleavages, Bengal displayed a much more complex post-independence political trajectory.
Background
It elected a communist government in 1977, which remained in power for a record 34 consecutive years before the Trinamool Congress (TMC), a centrist party led by the now-outgoing Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, brought it down in 2011.The state also remained relatively peaceful during some of the most tumultuous periods in modern India.In 1984, anti-Sikh riots erupted in many states following the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards. An estimated 3,000 Sikhs were killed in the national capital, New Delhi. West Bengal remained peaceful.
Key facts
- The southern state of Tamil Nadu saw the rise of yet another film star, following in the state’s long tradition of cine icons turning into mass political leaders.
- Advertisement Some 150 years later, the British partitioned Bengal in 1905 – the first major instance of division along religious lines in modern South Asia.
- He opposed a special status granted to the Indian-administered Kashmir after India and Pakistan emerged as independent nations in 1947.
What this means
Eight years later, the state again remained a sanctuary from the nationwide bloodbath that erupted following the 1992 demolition of a Mughal-era mosque in Uttar Pradesh state by Hindu hardliners led by Modi’s party.Will that sense of communal exceptionalism and relative harmony that has long characterised West Bengal remain intact under a BJP government? That is one of the big questions emerging from the election results.‘Lotus has bloomed’ — the question is howWest Bengal is home to nearly 100 million people, 27 percent of them Muslims. The BJP, riding on a combination of anti-incumbency sentiment against Banerjee and its own tried-and-tested anti-Muslim rhetoric, won a stunning 207 seats, reducing the TMC to 80 legislators in the 294-member assembly – a remarkable rise for a party that until a decade ago had just three seats.
Advertisement “The lotus has bloomed in West Bengal!” Modi posted on X on Monday afternoon, referring to the BJP’s election symbol, even as Election Commission of India (ECI) officials were still counting the votes. “The Election Commission is the BJP’s commission,” she told reporters in Kolkata, the state capital, promising to “bounce back”.Will BJP follow the Assam model in Bengal?The BJP’s historic win in West Bengal follows a familiar election strategy, in which stirring up anti-Muslim sentiments is a central pillar.In their campaign speeches, its leaders, including Modi, accused Muslims of being “Bangladeshi infiltrators” as the party called for a Hindu consolidation to drive out the “illegal immigrants” from the state.
Originally reported by Al Jazeera. This story has been edited and re-presented by BRIC Team.
