Prime Minister Narendra Modi led BJP to a landslide victory in the Lok Sabha election, crushing challenger Congress and other regional rivals under a saffron juggernaut powered by a highvoltage campaign that ran on the themes of nationalism, Hindutva and welfare schemes for the poor. The results of the election became apparent within a couple of hours of counting on Thursday morning, with BJP racing to leads in over 200 seats. Neither the “mahagathbandhan” of SP and BSP in UP nor regional powerhouses Trinamool and BJD could slow BJP’s march to a record second term in office.
Official data from the Election Commission showed Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party ahead in 302 of the 542 seats up for grabs, up from the 282 it won in 2014 and more than the 272 seats needed for a majority in the lower house of parliament. That would give his party the first back-to-back majority for a single party since 1984. Final results are yet to be out as counting is still in progress on Friday morning. Modi was showered with rose petals by some of the thousands of cheering supporters who waited for hours his arrival at party headquarters. “Whatever happened in these elections is in the past, we have to look ahead. We have to take everyone forward, including our staunchest opponents,” he said in a televised address.
He was critical of the many people that doubted the BJP could increase its majority. “The political pundits of India have to leave behind their ideas of the past,” he added. Just like the air strikes on Balakot that Modi invoked in his poll speeches, his campaign flattened opponents who had hoped allegations over the Rafale deal and issues of unemployment and farm distress would unseat the Prime Minister. As things turned out, Congress’s “chowkidar chor hai” campaign found no resonance and was effectively countered by the “main bhi chowkidar” mobilisation.
The unambiguous endorsement also marked an ideological triumph over the “secular” elite after a hard-fought duel in which BJP challenged the latter’s “idea of India” on issues ranging from sedition and how to handle J&K to judicial interference with religious traditions. In his victory speech, Modi said the verdict signalled the birth of new India’s hopes and aspirations and showed that the political use of “secularism” had run its course.
UP grand alliance fails to halt BJP
BJP swept aside the challenge of the three-party mahagathbandhan in UP, winning or taking leads in 61 seats. Though this marked a drop from its tally of 71 in 2014, BJP increased its vote share fom 42% in 2014 to nearly 50%. Of the five members of Mulayam Singh Yadav’s family who won in 2014, daughter-in-law Dimple and nephews Akshay and Dharmendra were trailing when last reports came in.
BJP makes big inroads in Bengal
West Bengal has given BJP a 40.2% vote share, leads in 18 out of 42 LS seats - up from just two wins in 2014 - and the mandate to take on TMC in the 2021 state polls. TMC managed leads in 22 seats, down from 34 wins in the last LS polls, though its vote share has gone up from 39% to 43.3%. The Left’s share of votes has plummeted to 7.5% from 29.9%, and it won’t have a single LS MP from the state for the first time.
BJP president Amit Shah said Congress had failed to score in 17 states and UTs, and parties that showed a contempt for the PM’s hard work had paid a price for their arrogance. The verdict was a fitting response to the politics of appeasement and caste and dynasty, he added, hailing Modi as the world’s most popular democratic leader.
The second landslide for Modi confirmed BJP’s emergence as the principal pole of Indian politics and its enthronement as the natural party of governance, with the NDA alliance crossing 44% of the total votes polled. NDA numbers rose to around 350 as BJP fulfilled the “ab ki baar, teen sau par” pledge. Seen by many as more of a rallying cry than a realistic political goal, Modi defied punditry that BJP would find it hard to repeat its domineering performances in states where it had done very well in 2014. It repeated its sweep of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, and won all seats in Madhya Pradesh except one. It swept Bihar in alliance with JD(U) and Ramvilas Paswan’s LJP.
In the choice between contesting imaginations, BJP’s controversial candidate Pragya Thakur, an accused in a terror case, trounced Congress veteran Digvijay Singh who was in the Sangh Parivar’s crosshairs for allegedly coining the term “Hindu terror”. Kanhaiya Kumar of “azaadi” fame fell to the Modi wave in Begusarai.
Congress and other opponents had banked on unemployment and farm distress. In the end, those concerns failed to derail BJP, partly because of specific interventions such as the PM Kisan Samman income support and more importantly because the opposition failed to build a convincing narrative and the PM was seen as better placed to solve the problems.
