BJP’s West Bengal sweep to impact 2027 UP polls: Buoyant BJP and demoralised opposition

Lucknow: Although the next assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh were still a year away and the electoral equations in the state much different here, BJP’s thumping victory in the West Bengal assembly polls were certain to boost morale of the saffron party workers while having a demoralizing effect on the opposition parties, mainly Samajwadi Party (SP) and Congress.

BJP, according to the sources in the party, was gearing to highlight its Bengal win in UP, where the party had suffered a setback in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections with its tally of seats coming down to 33 from 62 it had won in 2019 LS polls.

‘’The Bengal win will be a huge morale booster for the BJP in UP while demoralising the opposition,’’ said Lucknow based political analyst J.P.Shukla.

The saffron party would also now go full throttle to puncture the PDA (pichda, dalit and alpsankhyak) formula of the SP, which was considered to be behind its success in the state in the 2024 LS elections with the party winning 37 seats, including the prestigious Ayodhya seat sending shockwaves in the saffron camp.

BJP would also seek to drive home the message that the regional satraps, with whose help SP president Akhilesh Yadav was trying to catapult himself on the national stage, were themselves being pushed to the margins by the people citing example of TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee and DMK chief M.K.Stalin.

‘’The people of Bengal and Tamil Nadu have rejected Mamata Banerjee and Stalin….Akhilesh will meet the same fate in 2027 assembly polls in UP,’’ UP deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said here in a social media post on Monday.

Maurya also referred to the defeat of RJD’s Tejasvi Yadav in the Bihar assembly polls to buttress his contention.

Mamata Banerjee’s defeat in Bengal was also being viewed here as a personal setback for Akhilesh as the latter had thrown his weight behind her and had often highlighted his good personal equations with the TMC leader. Mamata had even campaigned for the SP in Varanasi in the 2022 UP assembly polls.

SP leaders, apparently shocked by TMC’s loss, alleged ‘large scale rigging’ in the Bengal polls.’’ Mamata Banerjee would have won had the election not been rigged,’’ SP LS member from Ayodhya Awadhesh Prasad said.

 The saffron win in West Bengal was also likely to consolidate UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s position in the state and also establish him as the Hindutva face of the BJP in the country. Adityanath had addressed 11 election meetings in Bengal. At many of his meetings, there were bulldozers symbolising what the saffron leaders say a zero tolerance approach toward criminals.

BJP leaders and workers celebrated the party’s victory in Bengal by organising ‘jhal-muri’ parties at different places. Prime minister Narendra Modi had eaten ‘jhal-muri’ while campaigning in Bengal.