West Bengal elections

Judhajit Senmazumdar informed, "This was not a normal election for us. It was an existential battle as BL Santosh (BJP politician from Karnataka). We NRIs, from all over the world, came down to cast our vote. We started it brick by brick to bring all nationalist Bengalis together, globally. We have NASA scientists, Google and Facebook engineers, AI entrepreneurs, lawyers from the US, UK, Australia, Paris, and Africa," he informed.

The front page of the Calcutta edition of the newspaper published on 5th May dominated BJP’s Bengal victory, with a large front in saffron colour “BJP’s Bengal” with an illustration of the iconic Howrah Bridge worked into the lettering. Below it is the headline “Saffron tsunami sets aside TMC”.

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.

The anti-BJP brigade has recycled its formulaic ‘Hum hare nahi humein haraya gaya hai’ bogey by casting aspersions on the integrity of the Election Commission, instead of gracefully accepting the Janadesh.

Tagore had once yearned for ‘Banglar mati, Banglar jol’ to get sanctified under the blessings of the Supreme. As Bengal gears up to send legislators to it’s 294 member Assembly yet again, it is time to revisit those words. 4th May will decide if the State’s skyline gets smeared with green ‘abir’ yet again, or it will be saffron laddoos all the way, with a dash of ‘jhal muri’ alongside!