The Future Ai

He appealed to parties in Bengal to resolve to end the unending cycle of poll violence. “Badla nahi badlav ki baat honi chahiye. Bhay nahin, bhavishya ki baat honi chahiye (we should not talk about revenge but about change; about the future, not fear),” he said. He noted that numerous BJP members have been killed in Bengal and Kerala and many more families have suffered for their ideology.Modi described the defeat of DMK and TMC as popular rejection of their politics of “division” based on language and food, and even the tagging of Indians as outsiders, a reference to their projection of BJP as a party of outsiders.The Left’s loss in Kerala underlined a change of mindset and defeat of communism, with India preferring development and stability, he said.Women have punished opposition parties for defeating government’s bill to roll out women’s reservation in legislatures by 2029, he said, noting Congress benefitted in Kerala only because of people’s anger with the Left alliance.As expected, his party’s remarkable victory in Bengal was the main feature of his address, with the PM remembering the founder of Jana Sangh, who latertransformed into BJP, SyamaPrasad Mookerjee, and projecting the win as a tribute to him and other Bengali icons, including Vande Mataram author Bankim ChandraChatterjee and Rabindranath Tagore. Bengal is now free of fear, he said, alluding to Tagore’s famous poem.On a day BJP realized its long-cherished dream ofbagging Bengal, a state intrinsic to its cultural and nationalism plank but which for decades had proved too tough a political nut to crack, it was natural that Modi’s speech was rich on cultural symbolism. He recalled his post-Bihar win remarks in November last year that as Ganga flows from there to Bengal, so will the BJP’s victory march, and noted that BJP now governs every state through which the sacred river flows.

“In Bengal, women will now find an environment of safety and youth will find employment,” he said, announcing that the new government, in its first cabinet meeting, will adopt the Centre’s Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme. Stringent action will be taken against infiltrators, PM added, ticking another of BJP’s key promises.BJP will now run govts in’Anga, Banga and Kalinga'(Bihar, Bengal and Odisha),and this holds immense importance for ‘Purvodaya'(rise of eastern region),which is a must given that the country’s fortunes fell whenthey lost their economic andcultural prominence, he said, emphasizing that theywill now emerge as strongpillars. in the rise of “ViksitBharat” on his government’s watch.Framing the verdict as an endorsement of his govt’s handling of a series of crises triggered by several global upheavals, including the West Asia conflict, he said people are voting for stability at a time when the world is mired in adversities. The results have shown that India is united in the face of challenges and moving towards its goal of development, he addedBJP’s win in one state after another underscores pop- ular recognition of its agen- da of development and good governance, he pointed out.With opposition parties,especially TMC, attackingElection Commission for SIRand allegedly favoring BJP,Modi lavishly praised thepoll body and central security forces for ensuringviolence-free polling inBengal and high polling percentage across the five statesand Union territory thatwent to the polls.