At street corners and BJP offices alike, workers broke into spontaneous celebrations, beating drums, distributing laddoos, and smearing colour on one another. Express Photo by Partha Paul 6 min read May 4, 2026 05:36 PM IST First published on: May 4, 2026 at 05:36 PM IST Indian politics is a story of vanishing exceptionalisms. The two most entrenched and enduring regional formations have collapsed. Kolkata has fallen; Chennai has cracked. Kerala, true to form, has seen anti-incumbency; the BJP’s hold over Assam endures. These results consolidate the unprecedented national electoral prowess of the BJP and the ideological supremacy of Hindutva. It would be churlish to deny the unprecedented power of the Modi-Shah duo in the annals of electoral politics. In Bengal, a state that prided itself on being as distinctive, the BJP has brought about a near-impossible electoral realignment.…