India's Modi Wins Key Election in West Bengal, Sparking Hope and Controversy

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), took home their first-ever win at the state elections of West Bengal this week, sparking celebrations and controversy across the nation.

West Bengal, known for its beautiful language and unique culture, connects Eastern India to Northeast India, the latter of which consists of seven states located between Bangladesh, Myanmar, and China. The state is also home to Kolkata, the largest city in Eastern India, which maintains a population of around 15 million people and is an industrial hub of the east.

However, the state also faces serious issues, particularly over illegal immigrants and the dichotomy of religions that the region faces. As Britain allowed India to achieve independence, they split the country into three, turning what was formerly India into modern-day India, modern-day Pakistan, and modern-day Bangladesh. As the British did in many of their territories, they drew national lines straight through religious communities in an attempt to create infighting and violence in the area– many regions of modern-day West Bengal saw Muslim and Hindu communities forced to move because they had been split by Partition.

Because of this, West Bengal maintains a significant Muslim population, with one of the highest percentages in the country. The BJP, a Hindu-nationalist party, had never been able to win state elections in West Bengal for a combination of reasons, making the state a stronghold for opposition party leader Mamata Banerjee.

Banerjee and her supporters have been some of the largest outright critics of Modi, India's current prime minister who has served since 2014. Since then, India has seen incredible improvement in many areas, like business and development, and recent polls show that more than 80% of Indians have a favorable view of Modi. The nation is now the world's fastest-growing economy, and infrastructure has rapidly advanced, with new highway and airport projects currently being completed all over India. He has also implemented large-scale initiatives to assist with poverty while boosting job growth in sectors like manufacturing and finance.

However, Banerjee's party claims that the Hindu-nationalist nature of the BJP has severely impacted Muslims living in India. Many report increases of hate speech and violence against Muslims, and some feel that certain BJP policies have made Muslims feel like second-class citizens.

Because of this, when Modi's party took home their first-ever win at West Bengal's state elections, celebrations and cries erupted across the country.

Members and supporters of BJP celebrated the victory, claiming that it would bring new progress to West Bengal and further solidify Kolkata as the capital of the East with new growth and infrastructure projects supported by the Modi government.

However, Banerjee's party was quick to point out a major controversy over the election. Millions of names, many of them Muslims, were struck from ballots just days before the election, causing these people to mysteriously lose their right to vote. Supporters of Banerjee accused the BJP of cheating and fraud, but supporters of BJP argued that those struck off ballots were likely Bangladeshi illegal immigrants. Banerjee was consistently accused by the BJP of leaving borders open during her time as Chief Minister of West Bengal, allowing illegal immigrants – most of them Muslim – to enter the nation.

Nevertheless, whether those struck from the ballots were legally or illegally in India, the BJP now maintains control over West Bengal as well, extending the party and Prime Minister Modi's reach over the growing nation.

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Image credit to AFP