West Bengal: Modi's BJP conquers one of India's toughest political frontiers

For years, India's West Bengal state was the great exception to Narendra Modi's political advance. His Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had swept through India's Hindi-speaking heartland, expanded into the west and north-east, and overwhelmed once-formidable regional rivals. Yet Bengal - argumentative and steeped in a self-image of cultural exceptionalism - remained stubbornly resistant. That made this state election unusually consequential. With more than 100 million people, West Bengal's electorate is larger than Germany's, turning its election into something closer to a nation choosing a government than a routine Indian state poll. Monday's BJP victory there would rank among the most significant breakthroughs of Modi's 12-year reign. It is not merely the defeat of a three-term incumbent, but the completion of the party's long march into eastern India. "Winning Bengal is a big victory for the BJP - a land of promise that has long eluded its grasp," says author and journalist Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay. In Tamil Nadu, MK Stalin's DMK government was swept aside by actor-turned-politician Vijay and his fledgling TVK party, marking the dramatic return of film-star politics to the state. In Kerala, the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) defeated the Left Democratic Front (LDF) after two consecutive terms, ending the last remaining Communist-led state government in India. Only in Assam did the BJP buck the broader anti-incumbent tide and retain power, while the party and its