One of the most vocal critics of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the entire election campaign, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee remained silent when the verdict was out on Thursday.
Ms. Banerjee, who remained inside her Harish Chatterjee Street residence all day, just made just one tweet congratulating the winners, and refused to speak to the media.
“Congratulations to the winners. But all losers are not losers. We have to do a complete review and then we will share our views with you all. Let the counting process be completed fully and the VVPATs matched,” Ms. Banerjee tweeted. Even though the Trinamool Congress candidates were leading in more than half of the 42 seats in West Bengal, there was not much celebrations on the road leading to Ms. Banerjee's home. The BJP has made huge inroads into the State and, when information last came in, was leading in 19 seats.
Barring a large media contingent, not many people were seen outside Ms Banerjee’s residence.
Minutes after Ms. Banerjee’s tweet the first wave of Trinamool supporters arrived outside her home raising party flags and shouting slogans. The celebrations, however, lasted not more than a few minutes.
There was a picture of contrast on the road leading to the BJP State headquarters at 6 Murlidhar Sen lane, which had turned saffron with party workers smearing saffron colour on each other. Every now and then, BJP supporters came out on the streets with chants of Jai Shri Ram and distributed sweets to passersby. Hundreds of party workers thronged its dimly-lit rooms, watching television.
State BJP president Dilip Ghosh, who was himself leading from the Medinipur Lok Sabha seat, described the results as a mandate of the people against the “misrule” of the Trinamool in the State. The State leadership of the Communist party of India (Marxist) expressed surprise over the results and called it unprecedented.
“This is the poorest-ever performance of the CPI(M)… What has happened is a political and multi-pronged polarisation,” CPI(M) State secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra said at a thinly-attended press conference.
