As India votes, a streetwise politician in Kolkata reveals pragmatism trumps ideology | EUROtoday

KOLKATA, India — For many years, Tapas Roy’s affect has permeated his native district just like the summer season warmth in West Bengal. He has discovered jobs for the unemployed. He has managed a school scholarship for the poor. He has supplied stipends for widows.

In March, the longtime native politician stop his centrist, secular Trinamool Congress social gathering and accepted the right-wing, Hindu nationalist BJP’s supply to run for Parliament within the nationwide elections at the moment underway. In America, it could be tough to think about Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis working for president as a Democrat after failing to safe the 2024 Republican nomination. But in northern Kolkata, longtime Trinamool voters have shrugged at Roy’s leap throughout the aisle, saying they’ll assist Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, too.