#Fish curry is non-issue : #Islamophobia is.
Around 2012-13, immediately after Narendra Modi won Gujarat assembly elections for third time and some months before 2014 parliamentary polls; every analysts and detractors within BJP spoke about the limitation of Brand Moditva.
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| Modi with onetime mentor L K Advani |
It was powerfully argued that the BJP or even the NDA has to get into the business of fetching more seats in states such as Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, West Bengal, Kerala and north east. Put together these states made about 150 Lok Sabha seats. Since 2014 - the game has changed a lot and is still undergoing transition gradually. Kerala remains a distant dream till now. But in other states, the Lotus party is in quite a position - albeit with dominant say in north east (that makes 25 Lok Sabha seats) and also Odisha.
In 2024 Lok Sabha polls - BJP won 20 out of 21 in Odisha. In West Bengal, it won 12 out of 42 and its vote share was 39.08 per cent. Notably, in 2019 - BJP won 18 seats in Bengal and the vote share was 40.64.
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| Namo's trusted 'friend' Amit Shah and Suvendu Adhikari |
Now; in politics we all know the time-tested maxim is that the Success of Today should not be confused with the Politics of Tomorrow. But the power of 'mass popularity' should not be ignored either.
In 2012 on the eve of elections in Gujarat; I interviewed a Sikh entrepreneur in Maninagar (Modi's assembly constituency since 2012); -- his response was neo-classic:
"Agar Manmohan Singh bhi ladchhe ... toh bhi mein BJP na mata pachu (Even if Manmohan Singh contests from Maninagar (2012); I will vote for the BJP only".
These magical spells have stayed on and various facets have been added to the bandwagon of Moditva. There is no gainsay in stating that in more ways than one - April 29th voting in West Bengal will be crucial. For the first phase of polling on April 23 - the BJP as well as the rival TMC say each has done pretty well.
To judge what can be the fallout if BJP does well in West Bengal, we have to look behind - that is 2017.
That year, the BJP was far off in Uttar Pradesh and also at safe distance was Hindutva politics in India's most populous state.
But days after the Lotus party won a landslide victory in the politically important state, the BJP named a 'Hindu priest' Yogi Adityanath as the chief minister. In choosing Adityanath — one who presumably follows an ascetic life style based on yoga and Sanyas Dharm — Prime Minister Narendra Modi had not only authorized Yogi to anchor BJP's massive victory in the northern state but also given Hindu groups a new generation of leadership.
The saffron-clad Adityanath, born Ajay Singh Bisht in 1972, is 22-years younger than Modi himself. But Yogi Adityanath emerged as one of new 'most potential' faces of the BJP.
Yogi's administration began on a firm note and gradually it was called a Bulldozer government. If BJP wins in Bengal (to be decided largely by April 29/Wednesday voting); the new chief minister will have to cherish and implement some of the positive facets of Yogi administration.
A beginning has been made perhaps when Suvendu Adhikari (in the front race for chief ministership) fell on Yogi's feet in front of cameras in Kolkata recently.
May not be of that scale; but West Bengal too has immense influence of musclemen and syndicate raj. Hence, the deployment of an encounter specialist Ajay Pal Sharma from UP on a poll duty may be a veiled but important symbolic beginning. The UP cop has cracked the whip along Diamond Harbour - a region infamous for smuggling and various nefarious activities.
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| Bulldozer CM -Yogi - can be a role model |
When Yogi became CM for the first time in UP; a Muslim leader Shahnawaz Khan from the Muslim forum Jamaat-I-Islami Hind had said that Adityanath's ascension ended the ambiguity among some Hindu voters about the pro-Hindu agenda of the BJP.
In fact, the Modi-Yogi (new MY) combination in UP emerhed as the ideal synthesis of majority politics vis-a-vis Hindu Rashtra and development.
BJP’s political growth in UP and the rest of India is always strongly linked to a surge of nationalism which reached great heights after Modi hardened his stance against Pakistan in 2019 and later in 2025.
The election results in 2019 as well as in some states including Bihar in 2025 have likewise been seen as an approval of "Narendra Modi’s muscular brand of nationalism".
This is a right synthesis along with the developmental agenda of Vikst Bharat and the spirit of Hindutva values.
In the context of Bengal, the BJP has almost dubbed TMC and its leadership as pro-Muslims and even pro-Muslim illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Hence, in all likelihood the Hindu-Muslim binary will be a strong feature if Lotus party captures Kolkata.
In the meantime, Bangladesh PM Tarique Rahman has written a letter to BJP national president Nitin Nabin for initiating healthy engagements between BNP and the Lotus party.
This may also impact power-politics in South Asia especially in the context of reviving hardliner Hindutva and its age-old brinkmanship against radical Islamic influence.
The real trouble may not be with eating Fish curry or skipping Muri-Ghanta (delicacy made of fish head). It's more deeper.
The BJP leaders, of course, always include temple visits and public prayers in their campaigns while accusing the TMC of being anti-Hindu.
ends
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