New Delhi/Kolkata, May 5 -- The Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) bid to shed the "Bohiragoto" (outsider) tag, its success in stoking the fear of illegal immigrants swamping the state, and a campaign that avoided personal comments on West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, even while highlighting the incumbent government's misgovernance worked in West Bengal, party leaders said. The BJP had won or was leading in 208 of the 294 assembly constituencies in the state as of 9 pm -- ensuring that the state that gave India Syama Prasad Mookherjee, the founder of the Jana Sangh, the BJP's progenitor, will have its first BJP chief minister. The leaders cited above also credited the party's local campaign, which used slogans such as Joy Ma Kali and Joy Ma Durga instead of Joy Shree Ram and a focus on strengthening its booth level management for its victory. "The Lotus blooms in West Bengal! The 2026 West Bengal Assembly Elections will be remembered forever. People's power has prevailed and BJP's politics of good governance has triumphed. I bow to each and every person of West Bengal. The people have given a spectacular mandate to BJP and I assure them that our Party will do everything possible to fulfil the dreams and aspirations of the people of West Bengal. We will provide a Government that ensures opportunity and dignity to all sections of society," PM Modi said in a post on X. Monday's win means the BJP, which dislodged the 15-year-old Trinamool Congress (TMC) government from the state, has now consolidated its hold over India's East, with the exception of Jharkhand; Odisha and Bihar have BJP CMs (their first) and now Bengal will. "We have been successful in dismantling the opposition's narrative that the BJP is a force in the Hindi-speaking belt and that our ideology, based on the premise of nation first, has limited appeal. Mamata Banerjee's loss is not only limited to the state, but is a message to the INDIA grouping as well," said a senior party leader, speaking on condition of anonymity. According to several senior leaders, who were involved in the BJP's campaign in the state, the party, after its loss in 2021, changed tactics to establish itself as a home-grown entity. Unlike the previous election, the BJP chose state leaders to lead the campaign on the ground with the party's key strategists such as union minister Bhupendra Yadav and national general secretary Sunil Bansal working behind the scenes. The party tried to do away with the line that divided the party's old timers and the new recruits. After Samik Bhattacharya, a veteran BJP leader, was elected as the party's state president, it sought to bridge the gap with the party's old timers who went out of limelight and felt side-lined over the years. "Several old timers were brought back and they all worked for the party this time. Some such as Ritesh Tiwari, were given tickets others were given some other posts in the party," said a second senior BJP leader. The big focus of the campaign was threat from the "outsider" , the "ghuspaithia" or the illegal settlers. The fear of the ghuspaithia who posed a threat to the nation' security and stole the resources meant for the people of the state was underscored over and over again by everyone, the karyakarta (volunteer) at the lowest rung to the Prime Minister. And in doing so, the BJP messaged how the incumbent government, for the sake of votes, had overlooked the dangers of allowing a porous border, a third senior party leader said. Union home minister Amit Shah, who overlooked every minute details of the election strategy and campaign, and stayed put in the state for a fortnight if not more, trained his guns at the state government for not allowing the border to be fenced. Addressing multiple rallies, he declared that the BJP would not allow India to become a "dharamshala" (shelter) and would "detect, delete, and deport" all illegal settlers. In his addresses during election rallies, instead of directly attacking Banerjee, the Prime Minister targetted the government she led. He repeatedly referred to the TMC-led government as "Nirmam Sarkar" or cruel government, highlighting crimes against women such as rape and murder of a medical student at RG Kar Medical College in Kolkata, the rape in Kasba law college and the attacks on women in Sandeshkhali....