A political blow to Shah despite an all-out battle

Amit Shah, Union home minister

When he first took over as president of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Amit Shah’s core goal for the BJP was to preserve its bastions in the north and the west and expand in the south and east. While the party has undoubtedly expanded, the outcome in West Bengal assembly elections — where the Union home minister invested tremendous political energy, predicted over 200 seats for the BJP, and along with party chief, JP Nadda, ran the campaign — is a political blow. Neither did the agenda of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, associated closely with the home minister, work in the state. While Shah will be satisfied at the party’s continued hold over Northeast’s most important political state, Assam, and the Congress’s defeat, the party’s southern and eastern expansion plans have become more challenging.