Swing from secular to Hindutva: How BJP won over the Bengali Bhadralok
"Where have all the Bhadralok gone?" asked one of my editors sarcastically when I said that the BJP might sweep the 2024 Lok Sabha election
"Where have all the Bhadralok gone?" asked one of my editors sarcastically when I said that the BJP might sweep the 2024 Lok Sabha election in Bengal after watching the exit poll trends, which predicted a clear edge for the BJP over the Trinamool Congress (TMC). Although sarcastic, his voice reflected a concern as well as disbelief that the Bengali Bhadralok, shaped by their century-long cultural practices, would accept BJP’s Hindutva politics, which was largely considered alien on Bengal soil. Read Full Story However, the myth has now been busted. In the recently concluded 2026 assembly polls, the Bhadralok largely swung to the BJP, marking a new beginning in Bengal politics. The state witnessed an unprecedented Hindu consolidation, with the Bhadralok playing a significant role. A look at the Presidency region adjoining Kolkata, which is considered the Bhadralok bastion in the state, reveals the change. Long considered a TMC citadel, the Presidency region this time elected the BJP in a majority in four out of five districts. While the BJP won 208 of the 294 seats in the Assembly election, reducing the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC to 80 seats, it is the saffron party's victory in the Presidency region that is the most interesting. The victory of BJP candidate Swapan Dasgupta from Rashbehari, a Bengali Bhadralok bastion and fortress of the TMC, underlines the swing in this election. As a person who grew up in a middle-class Bengali family, this shift seemed interesting to me for two reasons. One, the Bhadralok have had a long trajectory, influenced by Congress's secular tradition, and later the Left's party system and cultural Marxism. Drawing influence from existing literary works, music, films, and theatre, the section formed the backbone of Bengal’s politics. Although the TMC did not offer a major intellectual boost to them, a part of them witnessed the rise of a ‘neo-left’ with a bit of subaltern touch with Mamata Banerjee’s emergence. Secondly, growing up in a middle-class family in the suburbs of Kolkata, I saw my family members, relatives, neighbourhood, and friends being sceptical of the BJP, partly because of its Hindutva push and partly because it was considered unfamiliar to Bengal’s soil. Scepticism persisted in urban spaces even after the party’s rise in 2019 and 2021, due to its lack of an ideological base and cadre in South Bengal. So, how did the tables turn? A party that was nowhere to be seen in the political circles, how did it manage to win over the state’s dominant section? Let’s dive deeper. However, first, have a glance at the definition of Bhadraloks. WHO IS A BENGALI BHADRALOK? In her book, Bengal Divided: Hindu Communalism and Partition, 1932-1947, scholar Joya Chatterji referred to Bhadralok as a "rentier class" that emerged because of the permanent settlement ecosystem, launched by the British government in Bengal. Earning their livelihood from the rents of the land, some of the Bhadralok got modern education (English education to be precise) and later became a significant force in shaping the political and party systems in the state since the pre-Independence days. Much water has flowed down the Ganges since those early days, and the contemporary Bhadralok no longer perfectly mirrors the history books.
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