One of the most stunning performances of the BJP in the just concluded general elections was in West Bengal, where it won 18 of the 42 parliamentary seats, up from a tally of two and rattling the regime of the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress.

Many reasons have been proffered for the saffron surge, ranging from anti-incumbency to the focused blitzkrieg campaign launched by the party bigwigs including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah in the state. But, to put it in perspective, a brief history lesson is in order.