Thiruvananthapuram: While Rahul Gandhi questioned the BJP’s sweeps in West Bengal and Assam, alleging electoral malpractices, his party’s MP from Thiruvananthapuram, Shashi Tharoor, said there are things that everyone can learn from the saffron party.
“They (PM Modi and HM Amit Shah) have done a good job in Bengal and Assam and that’s partially because they are very good at conducting elections. They are professionally organised. They have strong organisational strength. They put a lot of resources, including financial resources, into their campaign,” Tharoor said on Tuesday.
“There are things that all of us can learn from that. I would only hope that their message will be one of uniting Indians and not dividing them,” the Congress MP added, as reported by ABP Live.
On Monday, Tharoor had called for introspection after the Congress’ poor showing in all three states save for Kerala.
“I think the party will have to do some very serious introspection, no doubt about it. We’ve said this before, and today we have a very good example of what worked righ
t. If we can get it right in Kerala, what can we do to get it right elsewhere? That is a lesson the Congress party should learn,” he had told ANI.
The BJP created history for itself in West Bengal by securing 206 seats in the 294-member Assembly, comfortably crossing the two-thirds majority mark and ending the Trinamool Congress’s 15-year rule.
The extent of the saffron onslaught was evident from the fact that Trinamool Congress chief and outgoing chief minister Mamata Banerjee lost her “safe” seat in Bhabanipur.
The victory was celebrated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi.
“Our mantra is nagarik devo bhava (citizens are god). We are dedicated to serving the people. That is why the people have shown their faith in the BJP. They know the BJP is synonymous with good governance, whether it is state government or civic elections as you saw the party winning its highest ever vote share in the recent Gujarat local body polls,” he said.
“The Lotus blooms in West Bengal! The 2026 West Bengal Assembly Elections will be remembered forever. People’s power has prevailed and BJP’s politics of good governance has triumphed,” Modi has posted on X.
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma led the BJP to a third consecutive victory in the state by winning 82 of the 126 seats. The Congress suffered a major setback by managing only 19 seats.
“Hat-Trick with a century!” Sarma posted on X, thanking voters for the mandate.