NO ONE SHOULD mourn(哀悼，惋惜) the exit of Mamata Banerjee, ejected by voters in West Bengal, India’s fourth-most-populous state. For 15 years she presided over failure(领导期间遭遇失败). Though the economy booms nationally, for the 100m people in her state it stagnates(停滞不前，萎靡). An average Bengali now has an income just half of someone’s in Gujarat, the home of Narendra Modi, the prime minister. Just as bad were Ms Banerjee’s thuggish(暴徒般的，残暴的) tendencies. She silenced critics and jailed opponents. Her party ran extortion rackets(敲诈勒索团伙). Allegedly, its goons sometimes got away with rape. Businesses were forced to pay bungs for land and licences. No wonder many left.
没有人应该为玛玛塔·班纳吉的下台感到惋惜，她被西孟加拉邦（印度第四大人口邦）的选民赶下了台。15年来，她领导有方，却以失败告终。尽管印度经济在全国范围内蓬勃发展，但她所在的邦却有1亿人口陷入停滞。如今，一个普通的孟加拉人收入仅为古吉拉特邦（印度总理纳伦德拉·莫迪的家乡）居民的一半。同样糟糕的是班纳吉女士的暴虐倾向。她压制批评者，监禁反对派。她的政党经营敲诈勒索团伙。据称，其打手有时能逃脱强奸罪的惩罚。企业被迫为土地和许可证行贿。难怪很多人离开了。
In an ungracious(失礼的，不客气的) last act, Ms Banerjee indicated she is refusing to step down, saying the other side cheated. She must go. Mr Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won, and is set to run West Bengal for the first time. The vote was part of a wave that toppled incumbents(推翻现任者) in various states. In Kerala the communist rulers were sent packing(被赶走，被解雇). In Tamil Nadu an action-movie-star-turned-politician, the mononymous(单名的，只用一个名字的) Vijay, swept away an old dynasty. All this is evidence that Indian democracy works, albeit imperfectly. Election results broadly reflect the voters’ will.
在一次不体面的最后之举中，班纳吉女士表示她拒绝下台，声称对方作弊。她必须离开。莫迪的印度人民党（BJP）获胜，并将首次执政西孟加拉邦。这次投票是一股浪潮的一部分，这股浪潮推翻了多个邦的现任统治者。在喀拉拉邦，共产党政府被赶下台。在泰米尔纳德邦，一位由动作影星转型的政治人物——单名维贾伊——横扫了一个旧王朝。所有这些都表明，印度民主是有效的，尽管并不完美。选举结果大致反映了选民的意愿。
The results also confirm that Mr Modi’s party remains strong, despite electoral wobbles(波动，摇摆) in the dozen years since he won national office. The BJP is better organised than its rivals. And it promotes ideology—mixing Hindu nationalism and promises of growth—far more skilfully. With allies, it now runs over two-thirds of India’s states and territories(控制超过三分之二的邦和地区), home to 80% of its population. Even the once-hostile south is warming somewhat(态度有所转暖) to the prime minister.
这些结果也证实，莫迪的政党依然强大，尽管他赢得全国大选以来的十几年间经历了一些选举波动。印度人民党的组织能力优于对手。它还更巧妙地宣传意识形态——将印度教民族主义与增长承诺结合在一起。加上盟友，它现在掌控着印度超过三分之二的邦和地区，覆盖80%的人口。甚至连一度敌对南方也在某种程度上对总理态度转暖。