New Delhi: Trinamool Congress The battle for Bengal has virtually begun as (TMC) and the BJP announce their candidate lists. While the TMC has announced candidates for all 294 seats, the saffron party has so far nominated 144 seats, about half of the Assembly. The game is largely seen as a head-to-head showdown between the two sides Mamata BanerjeeThe TMC and the PM-led Bharatiya Janata Party Narendra Modi.The BJP now aims to challenge Mamata Banerjee’s more than decade-long rule. Its rise in the Bengali-speaking country has been remarkable, from almost zero presence to becoming the main opposition and a serious contender for power.
The Modi-led campaign has placed Mamata at the center of political attacks on an elusive target – West Bengal, the country’s second-largest parliament.
2021: A turning point for the BJP
The 2021 parliamentary elections mark a turning point. Although the Bharatiya Janata Party was expected to win a landslide victory, it still won 77 seats – although not strong enough, it was a significant increase from the previous three seats and firmly established itself as a powerful opposition.In many ways, the 2021 election tells a bigger story than Mamata Banerjee’s victory, marking the rise of the BJP in Bengal politics.
How to vote in Bangladesh 2021
Amit Shah, often called the ‘Chanakya’ of the BJP, confidently claimed during the campaign that the party would cross the 200-mark in the 294-member Parliament and coined the slogan ‘abki baar, 200 paar’. However, the results tell a very different story.
Not only is the BJP well below 200 seats, it is even well below half of the 147 seats it has.The outcome also brought personal setbacks to several prominent figures in the party. Union Minister Babul Supriyo, former Rajya Sabha member Swapan Dasgupta and Lok Sabha member Locket Chatterjee all lost their seats.
Voting patterns and missed calculations
Much of the BJP’s strategy relies on consolidating the Hindu vote and gaining support from the scheduled caste (SC) community, while keeping a close eye on whether Muslim voters will support the TMC. Ultimately, the results showed that Muslim voters largely supported Mamata Banerjee, and the Supreme Court vote did not consolidate support for the BJP as expected.
BJP from 2019 highs to 2021 setbacks
The parliamentary results were a setback compared to the strong performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. At that time, the BJP won 18 of 42 seats and led in 121 parliamentary seats with 40.2% of the vote. In 2021, it gained 77 seats, 44 fewer than the previous leader, and its vote share fell slightly to 38.13%.
Bharatiya Janata Party: Ten years of rapid rise
Yet beneath the disappointment lies a remarkable coming-of-age story. Just a decade ago, in the 2011 assembly elections, the BJP failed to win a single seat, garnering only 4% of the vote. In 2014, it won two Lok Sabha seats with 18% of the vote. In 2016, it won three parliamentary seats with around 10% of the vote. In 2021, this will increase to 77 seats and over 38% of the vote, marking a significant increase.In the process, the BJP emerged as the main opposition force, replacing the Left and Congress parties that had dominated Bangladeshi politics for decades. While the Left parties and the Congress both drew blanks in the unprecedented results, smaller parties like the Secular Parliamentary Party of India and an independent candidate won one seat each.The BJP not only gained seats; It established the organizational foundation, cadre team and leadership system in the country. The machinery is now firmly in place and is likely to shape its strategy for future battles, whether in the Lok Sabha elections or the next parliamentary elections.
Battle of Nandigram
Another key gain for the BJP was the victory of its ‘giant killer’ Suvendu Adhikari, who defeated Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee by a margin of 1,956 votes in Nandigram after a tight contest.The match turned into a battle of prestige after Mamata herself chose to challenge Adhikari on his home turf. He went a step further and announced that he would retire from politics if he could not defeat her by 50,000 votes. Although he failed to realize this ambitious claim, his eventual victory, even by a narrow margin, proved its political significance.The defeat, a symbolic blow to the TMC’s larger victory, means Mamata Banerjee must seek re-election to Parliament within six months to remain as chief minister.
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