The BJP's energetic rise is also directly the cause of the Opposition's waning, but that may not tell the full story.

THE results of the Assembly elections in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, Assam and Kerala, were undoubtedly shaped by factors that were state-specific. But if there is a binding theme, it is this: The BJP’s growth and spread beyond its traditional bastions into new arenas and areas coincides with the declining fortunes of its political opponents. The BJP’s energetic rise is also directly the cause of the Opposition’s waning, but that may not tell the full story.

Be it the rout of Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal and MK Stalin in Tamil Nadu now, or Nitish Kumar bowing out with Lalu Prasad’s RJD failing to hold up its end in Bihar, or the eclipse of Naveen Patnaik in Odisha, or BJP’s longtime ally-turned-rival Uddhav Thackeray presiding over the Sena’s splintering in Maharashtra, or the signs of implosion in Arvind Kejriwal ’s AAP, or be it Congress’s seemingly unchecked slide despite its Kerala…