Politics

The outgoing Chief Minister has refused to resign. Short on numbers, Banerjee has accused the BJP of ‘rigging’ and claimed that the TMC has won the elections ‘morally’.

Several foreign media publications covered the BJP’s thumping victory, though not without peddling propaganda about the victorious party’s ‘Hindu nationalist’ ideology, ‘Muslim minority under threat’ bogey and falsehoods about the pre-poll SIR exercise.

It is the BJP’s candidate selection and focus on real issues that propelled the party to 206 seats for its maiden triumph. BJP’s women candidates brought their own grassroots stories, carried pain and yearning to bring change that resonated with Bengali voters.

Rahul Gandhi, Sayema, Arfa Khanum Sherwani and Sanjay Singh blamed the SIR after the results. Yet the top deletion seats tell a different story, with the TMC winning 13 out of the 20.

The meteoric rise of the BJP from 0 seats in 2011 to winning the 2026 Vidhan Sabha election tells a different story. It did not happen by sheer chance. The party was built brick by brick by its State leaders and its cadres in the past 15 years.