In West Bengal, a great race in rallies

FILE- In this Sunday, April 28, 2019 file photo, supporters of Trinamool Congress party hold party flags and walk in an election campaign rally in Kolkata, India. The battle pitting the BJP’s divisive Hindu nationalism against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress Party big-tent politics has come to a head on India’s eastern bottleneck of West Bengal, which stretches from the Himalayas in the north to the Bay of Bengal in the south and shares a language and border with Muslim-majority Bangladesh. (AP Photo/Bikas Das, File)

In the most acrimonious campaign in West Bengal’s electoral history, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and Chief Minister and Trinamool leader Mamata Banerjee targeted each other with phrases and words that were unheard of. Both sides covered the remote parts of the State, as far as possible, and led some gigantic roadshows, never seen in the State before. Mr. Modi and Mr. Shah jointly addressed 34 public meetings between March 29 and May 16, and they attended 17 rallies each, according to a release from the BJP. In addition, Mr. Shah addressed a press conference and spoke at a meeting of members of the BJP’s intellectual cell. Ms. Banerjee attended 102 meetings in 44 days. She took part in 18 roadshows. While the BJP leaders campaigned across the country, Ms. Banerjee largely confined herself to the State.