On May 23, India lost a talking point; it’s favourite past-time. The elections were over, the results declared, and the BJP-led NDA turned in its best-ever performance, including in the Northeast where it won 19 of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in the eight sister states with contrasting temperaments. The BJP pitched pegs in nine of Assam’s 14 constituencies, its highest ever. The party’s hold on this isolated landmass of India is complete.