India, May 5 -- The high-stakes assembly elections held last month and the results they bore on Monday, May 4, managed to reshape India's regional politics as we know it. While the saffron tide in West Bengal took over as the Bharatiya Janata Party bagged a historic landslide victory, Tamil Nadu put its might behind actor-turned-politician debutant Vijay, and the Congress-led United Democratic Front managed to upend Pinarayi Vijayan-led Left Democratic Front in Kerala. The election saw three chief ministers, all Opposition and regional leaders, lose not just their states but also their place in respective assemblies, with Assam's Himanta Sarma and Puducherry's N. Rangasamy being exceptions.

If there was one dent in Prime Minister Narendr...