A victory for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in West Bengal cannot be attributed to any single factor. It reflects the convergence of multiple political, social, and institutional processes that have gradually reconfigured Bengal’s politics. At its core lies a striking reorganisation of political identity — away from older axes such as class and regionalism, toward a more expansive, emotionally charged idiom of religious nationalism. The most significant driver of this shift is the consolidation of political polarisation along religious lines. The BJP’s rise in Bengal has been premised on its ability to translate national narratives of identity into locally resonant idioms. What stands out is not merely the polarisation, but its efficacy when it comes to elections . Electoral choice has been recast not as a question of governance or policy, but as one of civilisational belonging.…