Why did Prime Minister Narendra Modi lose in West Bengal?

The results of the state elections in West Bengal sent a strong signal to the political observers that in India🇮🇳the opposition is still alive.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the party of the current prime minister, Narendra Modi, lost the regional elections🗳to the detriment of regional All India Trinamool Congress (TMC), party led by the current West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, who with more than 200 seats in the 294-seat assembly won by her political group in West Bengal, secured a third consecutive term.

Voters chose continuity despite Modi’s strong campaign🗣✊in one of the few strongholds still under the control of the opposition. The result is all the more important as the defeat of the BJP in West Bengal, a key political state at the national level because of its population of almost 100 million people👥, will not necessarily ease the political force of the BJP in the next national elections in 2024, but rather it will boost the opposition’s confidence to maintain positions of strength in the face of BJP domination.

The result also denotes a preference for gender equality and welfare policies promoted by the TMC during the campaign, rather than messages of pro-Hindu policies, the traditional political speech of the BJP. The newly-elected Chief Minister spoke about programs dedicated to women’s education👩‍🎓and the need to end below-age marriages, all these in a country where women have become a strong source of political support nationwide.

Despite the defeat of the BJP, prime minister Modi’s party managed to secure 77 seats in the West Bengal assembly, an increase over previous elections, indicating a rising BJP presence in the heart of the opposition.

The euphoria surrounding the TMC victory is advised to remain cautious. Its success is largely due to Mamata Banerjee’s cult of personality, and it remains to be seen whether this moment can be quantified in the long run, and Mamata Banerjee to become a true leader of the opposition at the national level.