WEST BENGAL BEYOND PARTY POLITICS

HT's editors offer a book recommendation every Saturday, which provides history, context, and helps understand recent news events

- 

West Bengal is witnessing an extremely charged and polarised assembly election, with the first phase of polling crossing an unprecedented 92%.

One approach to understanding political Bengal is to study voting data, the evolution and performance of political parties, their record in office, the shifts in political economy over the decades, the region's interaction with colonialism, and the Partition. Another approach is to dive deep into the region's public culture and understand the factors that have shaped politics over the decades.