In this article forThe Daily Star, ABI staff member Anas Ansar explains why the right-wing turn in the 2026 West Bengal election cannot be blamed on Bangladesh.
In the aftermath of the election in the Indian state West Bengal, some blame the political developments in Bangladesh for the election's outcome. According to this narrative, the post-uprising instability in Bangladesh, the interim administration under Professor Yunus, and violence against minorities in Bangladesh triggered a Hindu consolidation in West Bengal and accelerated the rise of so-called Hindutva politics.
However, Anas Ansar argues that this narrative is dangerous: "This argument is not only intellectually weak; it is a fallacy of political morality and justice. It shifts responsibility away from the deep structural transformation of Indian politics over the past decade and reduces a complex electoral reality to a simplistic cross-border possibility".
The dangerous nature of the narrative, according to him, lies in its selective use of truth and historical amnesia. His conclusion: "The electoral transformation of West Bengal must be understood within the context of India’s own political evolution: the consolidation of majoritarian nationalism, the collapse of oppositional cohesion, the extraordinary power of propaganda machinery, and the long-term ideological project of the Hindu right".
The article is available on the The Daily Star website.