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The Economic Times

Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar

From Bengal to Assam, Hindutva rewrites the east: BJP's landslide ends era of regional strongmen

Bharatiya Janata Party Hindutva Bengal Mamata Banerjee Hindu Assam India TMC Tamil Nadu West Bengal

I need to eat crow. I predicted that Mamata Banerjee would win in West Bengal despite exit polls saying otherwise. But BJP won by a landslide, with 206 seats to TMC's 81. Banerjee herself lost by over 15,000 votes. BJP's consolidation of the Hindu vote was stunning, overwhelming all other political currents. Hindutva rules India, like it or not.

BJP has now captured the whole of eastern India. For long, strong local leaders governed in the east - Nitish Kumar in Bihar, Naveen Patnaik in Odisha, and Banerjee in West Bengal. All three are gone now, replaced by BJP.

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