What Modi’s big win in Indian state elections could mean for its democracy

For the first time in its 46-year history, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has won the state of West Bengal, arguably the Hindu nationalist party’s most consequential victory since 2014, the year Modi first came to power. The legislative assembly elections were held on several dates in April in West Bengal, three other Indian states – Tamil Nadu, Assam and Kerala – as well as in the federally-governed territory of Puducherry. …