Craftsmen at a handloom unit manually print the BJP logo onto large pieces of cloth ahead of the West Bengal Assembly elections in Nadia on Friday. Pic: PTI New Delhi: Elections in West Bengal have long outgrown the idea of being merely a democratic festival; they now represent a complex socio-political reality where hope is persistently shadowed by fear. With each electoral cycle, the same unsettling question returns: will the grip of violence loosen this time, or is repetit

Artists perform during a BJP roadshow for filing of nomination papers in Kolkata on Thursday . | Pic: PTI New Delhi: On the political landscape of West Bengal, the celebration of democracy often descends into blood-stained imagery. Elections, which ought to embody the spirit of civic rights, frequently emerge instead as violent expressions of fear, retribution, and the assertion of dominance. The most distressing aspect of this reality is that ordinary citizens, especially wo

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee holds a child on the occassion of Eid al-Fitr in Kolkata on Saturday. New Delhi: In the West Bengal assembly elections, issues of illegal infiltration and freebies are set to dominate the discourse. The BJP is weaving its strategy around infiltration, while the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has countered by branding the 'Special Intensive Revision' (SIR) as the first phase of the National Register of Citizens (NRC). In this race, the TMC