Narendra Modi returns with record mandate

Narendra Modi swept back to power on Thursday, lifted by a tidal wave of public support that helped the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) do the near-impossible and surpass its stunning 2014 performance.

At the time of going to print, the BJP was leading or had won in 302 seats, up 20 on its figure from 2014. The Congress, its main rival, limped to a pathetic tally of 50, and even along with its allies, will be sending only 93 lawmakers to Parliament. To add to its humiliation, Congress party president Rahul Gandhi lost the family bastion Amethi to Smriti Irani, though he managed to win from Wayanad in Kerala.

The win gives Modi five more years to complete the BJP’s agenda for India and a chance to kick-start the economy, which appears to be stalling. The PM’s first term was marked by diplomatic successes, missteps on economic policy and a rise in social tensions.

But voters gave Modi a thumbs up for building infrastructure, welfare measures and his decision to send fighter jets to bomb a target in Pakistan after a terror attack.

Most of all, Modi succeeded in converting the election into a presidential-style poll, and voters appear to have concluded that there was only one man in the race in such a contest.

Winning the election after a highly polarised election campaign, Modi tweeted, “Together we grow. Together we prosper. Together we will build a strong and inclusive India. India wins yet again! #VijayiBharat.”

In a series of tweets, BJP chief Amit Shah hailed the verdict as the victory of “the hopes of the youth, the poor and the farmer” and of the faith of people in the “strong leadership and development carried out in five years of Modi government”.

Stock market investors cheered the verdict by lifting the Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex above the 40,000-mark for the first time in history, though shares gave up gains by the end of the day.

The BJP fought the elections as a well-organised poll machine, stooping to conquer and inducting new allies, while Opposition unity proved to be a chimera despite lofty talk of a grand alliance.

The Congress’ attempts to reorient the election onto issues like unemployment and the agrarian crisis with a manifesto promise of minimum income guarantee NYAY failed to echo even in rural India, which preferred the BJP’s nationalist agenda.

The BJP’s victory in 18 of 42 seats of West Bengal also meant that the Left is totally decimated and right-wing politics has found wide acceptance in the state. Regional parties in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar made a desperate last attempt to stop the Modi juggernaut by forging alliances, as did the Congress in Maharashtra and Karnataka by tying up with NCP and the Janata Dal (Secular). But there was no ending the saffron surge.

Apart from banking on a strong undercurrent for Modi, the BJP also stitched up formidable alliances with regional parties like Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United), Shiv Sena, Asom Gana Parishad and AIADMK. This yielded dividends in Bihar, Maharashtra and Assam but not in Tamil Nadu, where the DMK-Congress alliance swept the polls, checking the BJP’s southward journey at the borders of Karnataka, in which the BJP has come back with a bang.