One hundred days after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ended 15 years of Trinamool Congress rule in West Bengal, a consequential battle is unfolding in the State within the BJP itself.

By taking oath as Bengal’s first BJP Chief Minister, Suvendu Adhikari inherited a State that had voted for rupture. Voters rejected extortion, strongmen, patronage, unreliable employment, and the migration of young Bengalis. The mandate carried special weight for the BJP, and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) which had spent decades building an organisation in the State when electoral power seemed distant.