India, Jan. 4 -- As West Bengal gears up for the 2026 Assembly elections scheduled for March-April, religious symbolism and communal rhetoric have emerged as dominant themes in the political discourse, with both the ruling Trinamool Congress and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) deploying temple projects and religious imagery to mobilize their respective vote banks. The battle for Bengal's 294 Assembly seats has increasingly become a contest over religious identity, marked by grand announcements of temple complexes, accusations of appeasement politics, and competing claims to represent the true interests of various communities.

Political observers note that the state, traditionally known for its syncretic culture, is witnessing...