BJP’s unpopularity might be growing – but destruction of Opposition gives it breathing space

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“I was never involved in corruption,” read the alleged suicide note of the former deputy speaker of the West Bengal Assembly, Asish Banerjee. “It was a blunder to join politics.”

On Sunday morning, the body of the 75-year-old Trinamool Congress member was found hanging in a party office. Amidst widespread attacks on Trinamool party leaders after the Bharatiya Janata Party took power in May, Banerjee had also been abused in public by a worker of the Hindutva party. Just after his death, distraught members of Banerjee’s family appeared on television, stating that the entire family had left politics to ward off further attacks.

Two days later, Satyendra Jain, a senior Aam Aadmi Party leader was arrested by the Delhi Police. Jain is in charge of Punjab, a state that goes to elections in a few months. This is not the first time he’s been sent to jail by the BJP. In 2022, Jain was arrested just a few months before the elections in...

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