‘Look East’ for Modi
- Modi made it clear in 2014 elections that entrenching his party in the East was a priority
- In the East, Assam seems to be only state where the BJP has gained ground
- Modi’s decision to legitimise the stay of Hindu refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, in India, has upset the Assamese
- Most Assamese treat the migrant issue as an ethnic issue
- In West Bengal, it is not the BJP but the ruling Left and the Congress that will challenge Mamata’s Trinamool Congress
‘Look East’ for Narendra Modi has been as much about developing India’s connectivity with her eastern neighbourhood as about expanding the BJP’s influence in India’s East and Northeast. In the rundown to the 2014 parliament elections, Modi had made it clear that entrenching his party in the East was a priority. His declared commitment to develop the East, which he described as the ‘weak link’ of the Republic, had as much to do with ending regional disparity as to position the BJP in a region where it does not control a single state.
But as Nitish Kumar departed the NDA and the Asom Gana Parishad backed out from a 2001 alliance in Assam, Modi was left to hunt for allies. The 2014 parliament polls were encouraging. Not only did the BJP do very well in Bihar but also in Assam, where it bagged half the 14 Lok Sabha seats, leaving the ruling Congress in competition with the Muslim-dominated AUDF to battle for the second position. Even in West Bengal, the party’s vote share increased sharply.