India, May 3 -- Geographically, Kolkata and Lucknow are 1,000 kilometres apart; politically, their DNAs differ sharply. Ideally, a poll result in West Bengal should have no direct bearing on Uttar Pradesh, given the starkly different socio-religious cultures. Yet, as Uttar Pradesh moves toward its March 2027 assembly polls, there is a perception that the Bengal outcome could build the hawa in the heartland.

UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath's aggressive campaign in Bengal this year could have something to do with it, and his effort to promote his model of governance, which he said had transformed his state. If UP can be riot-free, so can Bengal, Yogi would declare at election meetings in Bengal, contending that there was anarchy, hooliga...