Swaminathan Aiyar on what the BJP sweep in Bengal and Vijay's rise in Tamil Nadu really mean

India's political map just shifted in two very different ways, and both shifts could have lasting consequences. That is the blunt assessment of Swaminathan Aiyar, Consulting Editor at ET Now, who called the election outcomes in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu a "startling-startling change" unlike anything seen in these states in decades.

BJP seats, West Bengal
~75% of seats contested


Eastern stronghold
Bihar, Odisha, Bengal — all BJP

Tamil Nadu wildcard
Actor-politician Vijay's debut

Aiyar's comparison
Vijay = new Kejriwal?

West Bengal: Hindutva arrives with a bang

Aiyar was unequivocal about what the BJP's West Bengal victory represents. The campaign was built squarely on the issue of illegal Bangladeshi immigration and Hindu consolidation and voters responded decisively. With roughly 75% of contested seats won, Aiyar says the BJP has now completed its eastern conquest. Once upon a time the east had very strong local leaders, Nitish Kumar in Bihar, Mamata in West Bengal, and Naveen Patnaik in Odisha. All three once-formidable regional bastions have fallen to the BJP.

"Once it has come in, it is not going to be very easy to move," Aiyar said, suggesting that Hindutva is no longer a fringe idea in Bengal, it is now embedded in the voter's psyche.

Tamil Nadu: A Gen Z revolt, not a party win

The story in Tamil Nadu is entirely different, and in some ways more surprising. Actor-turned-politician Vijay has pulled off what Aiyar compares to the outsider uprisings seen in Nepal and Sri Lanka: a young, frustrated electorate rejecting the tired DMK-versus-AIADMK duopoly and backing a complete political newcomer on a platform of good governance and zero corruption.

Crucially, unlike Rajinikanth or Kamal Haasan, who dipped their toes in politics without fully committing, Vijay resigned from films two years ago to fight this battle full-time. Aiyar notes that the BJP could yet become a coalition partner in a Vijay-led government, giving it a foothold in a state it has never truly cracked. Whether he partners with the BJP or the AIADMK, the old Tamil Nadu is gone. "Kejriwal lasted 10 years," Aiyar said pointedly. "Let us see how long Vijay lasts."