The Indian electorate has rejected the Hindu nationalist messaging of the BJP in the midst of soaring unemployment.
There are many lessons to be drawn from the humbling election win that Indian Prime Minister Narindra Modi’s BJP has managed to cobble together.
For months the world’s largest democracy has been preparing for and conducting the single largest democratic process in the world. The election campaigning from Mr Modi focused on targeting the country’s Muslim minority, whom he called infiltrators.
Even though the BJP has emerged as the single largest party in the country and will form a coalition government, they do not have a simple majority. This is a fall from their previous election, and a resurgence from the Indian National Congress which has nearly doubled its seats compared to the last election in 2019.
Most telling have been the losses in UP, where the BJP has been dominant for decades where Hindu Monk and hardliner Yogi Adityanath has been spreading the BJP’s nationalist views, and Ayodhya, where the Prime Minister inaugurated the Ram Temple on the remnants of the Babari Masjid.
Most pundits expected the BJP to sweep this election, with the party hoping to cross 400 seats. One must remember that as far as election expectations are concerned, media coverage often tilts towards whatever side the middle and upper middle classes take. But on the day of an election, all voices count equally. It is telling that at times of economic hardship (India has an unemployment rate of 8.1% which has steadily risen during Modi’s time), the bottom echelons of society cannot afford to vote on the basis of ideology.
Many expected that if Modi swept the election, it would allow the BJP to enact their far reaching constitutional reforms which would further push Muslims and other minorities into a corner. This is increasingly looking unlikely. With a slim majority and unreliable partners, Mr Modi will have to focus on delivering on the economic front if he is to continue being India’s longest serving prime minister after Nehru.
Even though he has always been a Hindu hardliner, Mr Modi initially garnered his reputation as a no-nonsense economic manager as the CM of Gujrat. Even if he does not have a change of heart, political expediency might force him to tone down the rhetoric and shelve his plans for a later date.
