Last few months, West Bengal has been a state under siege. Jackboots on the ground and knocks on doors after midnight. Armoured vehicles crisscrossing the road. Citizenry terrorised through “logical discrepancy” in the name of SIR. ED, CBI, IT raids and arrests. WhatsApp lists of “suspects” and “trouble makers.” Blanket ban on booze and bikes. Filthy language by Chief Election Commissioner and the so-called “Police Observers.” Amidst all this, a star was born.
As is its wont, BJP threw the kitchen sink in a do-or-die battle. But even by their standards, the scale was unimaginable.
During the last Assembly elections, the work of political consultancy firm I-PAC made a substantial difference to the TMC fortunes. They not only created slogans like “Didi ke bolo” and “Duare sarkar,” they made it work by micro-managing service delivery holding the bureaucracy accountable and keeping it on its toes. Thereafter, they became a permanent fixture with tentacles and offices spread to block levels and even villages, practically running the party day-to-day. A raid on their office on January 8, 2026 and subsequent action by ED excised out the most potent weapon Didi had in her political arsenal. The ED action was so virulent that I-PAC declared they were stopping all their work in West Bengal. Elections were completed on April 29. The Director of I-PAC, Vinesh Chandel was conveniently granted bail on April 30. And guess what, ED didn’t oppose his bail application!
In March, suddenly the Governor of West Bengal was shown the door and there was a new Governor.
The BJP candidates campaigned with fish in hand. Their star campaigner ate Jhaal Muri for public consumption. In a blatant violation of the model code of conduct, he orchestrated a whole drama of Nari Shakti and used the government machinery for a campaign speech. During the silent period (48 hours before scheduled close of Phase II polls), he campaigned through photo-op of playing football in Sikkim and making campaign speeches in UP (widely televised for consumption of the voters) – surrogate campaigning? The central ministers were televised chomping meat and fish.
RSS conducted a staggering 1.75 lakh jagarans (surrogate campaigning again) in the lead up to the polls. Many Central ministers including the Home Minister camped in West Bengal. An extraordinary 2.5 lakh Central Police Force personnel armed to the teeth and supported by drones and so on descended on West Bengal.
Finally, they’ve done the usual exit-poll ‘khela.’ As in 2021 assembly elections and 2024 Parliament elections, these polls have again declared BJP the winner.
Did the BJP get anything wrong? Yes. They seemed not to have learnt from that Didi-o-didi fiasco of last time. Amit Shah did his version with “Ae Mamata didi, kaan khol kar sun so …,” etc. this time. Rajiv Gandhi once mentioned Calcutta as a “dying city” and Congress has never seen the light of life since, in West Bengal. Here we had Amit Shah declaring Kolkata as a “city of slums.” I was appalled to see him declaring Jadavpur University as a “hotbed of anarchy” – at the very least, such pronouncements should have been deferred till after the elections – JU occupies a very special place in the heart of the Bengalis. Then there was Gyaneshji ordering a 9-day booze ban. Two things Didi has got politically right – making booze-buying a civilised experience in West Bengal and actually exhorting the people to smoke more. Take these away, the whole system collapses – where’d we be without our “adda intellectualism?”
So, who do I think will win? The bhadralok is angry, standing in queues for enumeration forms, stamp-size photograph, appeal, hearings and so on. The hoi polio is upset – almost everyone or his/ her uncle/ aunt/ friend has been disenfranchised. The jackboots don’t appeal here. Everyone eats fish but the sight of those guys landing up at one’s doorsteps with huge fish on each hand, Ugh! The Hindus are angry because they don’t accept an alternative version of their faith sans meat, sans fish, sans their way of life. The minorities are of course in a state of constant dread. The adda intellectuals are angry; take away the booze and the arguments then where would they be? There was a certain anti-incumbency against Didi but these antics have trumped it. I might have to eat my words later but I think this has been a wave election and Didi’ll win by a landslide.
But that’s not the story of the election for me. These elections saw the grand arrival of a pocket-rocket, a blazing, blistering phenomenon on the political firmament. Wherever she went, the crowds followed and cheered her on. She attended at least 80 meetings, held road shows, gave interviews, carefully avoiding outshining Didi or heir-apparent Abhishek Banerjee. She broke into songs (she’s done playback singing for various movies), she danced, she recited couplets and shayaris and projected an inclusive Bengali culture, all the while flaunting Didi’s trademark hawai chappals.
She used her equi-lingual abilities in English, Hindi and Bengali to devastating effect. At the height of BJP’s usual shrill Hindu-Muslim template, she did this:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/vVyfOG3YWjk
Chandi path followed by Azan followed by Hanuman Chalisa followed by Sikh incantation, all in almost one breath, rendered so beautifully and accurately.
She followed it up in another meeting with Rahat Indori’s:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/uwTdfX5fvYU
"सभी का खून है शामिल यहां की मिट्टी में, किसी के बाप का हिंदुस्तान थोड़ी है"
["Everyone's blood is mingled in this soil; India does not belong solely to any one person as a birthright"]
Come May 4, someone will win; someone
will lose. Or, there’ll be a hung assembly with resort politics. Whatever the
outcome, a star has been born. Saayoni Ghosh.
