In the BJP’s breakthrough win in West Bengal, a major factor was the quieter, more methodical approach of the RSS, whose efforts in the state for over a decade, and the last two years in particular, laid the foundation of the victory. Though Hindu identity politics has a century-long history in Bengal, the RSS and the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS), the precursor to the BJP, failed to establish its presence in the state after Independence. The BJS won nine Assembly seats and a 12.57% vote share in the 1951 election, but it fell off the electoral map afterwards. The long drought came to an end only in 2014, when the BJP won its first Assembly seat in a bypoll. Since then, it has been a steady climb to power — three in 2016, 77 in 2021, and 207 seats in this election. The turning point in electoral terms came in 2021 as it became apparent to the Sangh that the battle against the Trinamool Congress (TMC) could be won, senior RSS functionaries said.…