Kolkata: The West Bengal election results have made it to the headlines of all major publications across the world, from New York to London and Islamabad to Dhaka.
The crushing of the DMK by Tamil superstar Joseph Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) in Tamil Nadu also was also in focus.
In an article titled ‘Modi’s BJP conquers Bengal, one of India’s toughest political frontiers’, the BBC claimed the victory in the eastern state “would rank among the most significant breakthroughs of Modi’s 12-year reign.”
“It is not merely the defeat of a three-term incumbent but the completion of the party’s long march into eastern India,” the article said.
British daily, The Guardian, also focused on the Bengal results, noting how the state had been a rare opposition stronghold, unrivalled in the BJP’s consolidation of power across the country.
The article, titled “Narendra Modi’s BJP wins election in West Bengal for the first time”, said the Bengal assembly election results “will have significant implications for India’s political landscape and deal another demoralising blow to the already weakened opposition,” as reported by NDTV.
The New York Times, in a report titled “Modi’s Hindu Nationalists Conquer a Bastion of India’s Opposition”, termed the BJP’s performance in West Bengal ‘historic’.
PM Modi’s BJP “broke new ground Monday in its
decades-long campaign to remake the world’s largest democracy, winning legislative elections in one of the country’s most populous states, where it has never before come close to ruling”, it said.
The NYT also talked about Vijay’s surprise victory in Tamil Nadu. “One of the biggest surprises of the day was in Tamil Nadu, where the party of a political novice, the actor Joseph Vijay Chandrasekhar, did better than either of the established parties in the state,” the report read.
The poll outcome in West Bengal was expected to boost PM Modi’s “standing and strengthen his position midway through his third term in office”, The Washington Post said in its coverage.
“The 2024 national election forced his ruling party to rely on regional allies to form a government. He is expected to run for a record fourth term in 2029,” the article said.
The report also focused on Kerala, where the Indian National Congress-led opposition defeated the ruling communist government, ending leftist rule in one of its last remaining strongholds.
In Pakistan, the Dawn carried the AFP report on the elections, which said PM Modi’s “nationalist party” swept to victory in key elections in “opposition-held West Bengal state, conquering a bastion long held by its adversary”.
The results should put pm Modi on “a stronger footing while he battles a series of economic and foreign policy challenges, including high unemployment rates and a pending US trade deal, ahead of a general election in 2029,” the report states.
In Bangladesh, the Dhaka Tribune also carried the same AFP report, which also talked about another major electoral shock, with veteran politician M K Stalin, chief minister of the southern state of Tamil Nadu, losing his seat to an unheralded rival.