New Delhi: Narendra Modi appears set to be sworn in as India’s Prime Minister for the third consecutive term on Saturday, a feat achieved by only Jawaharlal Nehru before him in 1962, and despite his Bharatiya Janata Party not securing a majority on its own — the larger National Democratic Alliance is comfortably over the halfway mark, though — in elections to the 18th Lok Sabha, BJP leaders termed the feat historic.
Securing the mandate is historic as the PM himself pointed out that a third term for the same party has not happened in the last six decades. This is a vote for Viksit Bharat, it is a vote against the divisive and appeasement politics of the Opposition and it presents a challenge to the BJP to find ways and means to effectively deal with forces that want to fragment the society and emulate the British policy of divide and rule, said Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, senior party leader and former chairman of ICCR.
Even internationally, few leaders and governments have served beyond a decade, other leaders said, attributing the BJP-led NDA’s mandate to Modi’s governance model and one that seeks the continuity of a decisive government focussed on social welfare, economic reforms, and ensuring India a seat at the global high table.
A day after the BJP, which won the 2014 and 2019 general elections with a thumping majority on its own, saw its tally shrink to 240 from the previous 303, the mood in the party was sombre, but not despondent. Several senior functionaries who spoke on condition of anonymity said the party fell short of its own high expectations but did not consider the results as a rejection of its ideology or Modi’s administration.
The setback that we faced was on account of the opposition being able to orchestrate a fake narrative that we failed to check in time. Rumours about scrapping reservations and changing the Constitution created fear. Our assurance that none of this was part of the BJP’s agenda was perhaps too little too late, said a senior party leader, who is also in charge of two states.
The leader also blamed the dip in numbers to anti-incumbency against local candidates or anger over issues that were hyper local.
The BJP did not face the anti-incumbency that is expected after being in power for 10 years. The reason was the delivery and performance of the government, its record of social welfare, and catering to the aspirations of the young demographic, the leader said.
A second leader said the BJP’s emergence as the single largest party nationally — it has more seats than the entire opposition put together — and its victory in the Odisha assembly polls, and growing presence in the south are an endorsement of brand Modi.
He listed Modi’s achievements. People have judged him for delivery of promises whether it was fulfilling the ideological commitments such as the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir or passage of the Women’s Reservation’s Bill , added this person.
To be sure, Modi was the front and centre of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The blueprint of the party’s campaign, the threads of the narrative, the strategy to counter the opposition’s coalition were all designed around an edifice that was built with him at the nucleus. The party’s election pitch was Modi Ki Guarantee.
Brand Modi was the engine that pulled the BJP’s election wagon and was built around the party’s development agenda, its welfare schemes, focus on groups such as women and young people, and an unwavering commitment to Hindutva.
Party leaders also maintained that the commentariat’s assertion that a diminished strength in the Lok Sabha would force the Modi government to dilute its ideology or go slow on transformational reforms is a flawed assumption. In the last two terms the BJP did not have pressure from the allies, but there were occasions when international pressure was mounted on the government to reconsider some decision. Our internal matters such as the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Bill, the abrogation of Article 370 and our bilateral ties with Russia were all questioned, but the PM did not yield and we continued to pursue policies that we thought were in the nation’s interest, said the first leader quoted above.
Leaders asserted that the perception that running a coalition government will prove hard for the PM is way off the mark. With reduced numbers the BJP is expected to face obstacles in the passage of contentious bills such the uniform civil code and the plan to implement the one nation, one election scheme.
There will be challenges as allies have a different view of certain issues, for instance Chandrababu Naidu supported the idea of reservation for Muslims and the Janata Dal United was the instigator for a caste-based census that gave the opposition a trigger to converge against the BJP. But Modi is an able administrator, he knows the art of when to give in and when to draw the line…there will be no compromise, said a third party leader, referring to N Chandrababu Naidu of the Telugu Desam and the Janata Dal United headed by Nitish Kumar, the numbers of both are required to help the BJP cross the majority mark.
The third leader said the PM’s address to party workers on Tuesday, after the results were declared, was unambiguous about his intentions. He made it clear that the war against corruption will not stop…he has already indicated that sarkar kamzor nahi hogi (the government will not be weak) and he will ensure that as he wants to leave a legacy, which will not be that of a weak leader.
Analysts pointed out that Modi has a strong sense of history and likely sees the third term as being the one that will propel him to the status of India’s tallest political leader since independence. Modi has repeatedly spoken about making India’s economy the third largest in the world during his third term and making India a developed nation by 2047. His journey and the nation’s towards those goals, begins Saturday.
