Narendra Modi is going to create history by becoming the Prime Minister of the country for the third consecutive time. However, Narendra Modi's victory included his party's defeat in 63 seats. Unable to form a government on their own, they are completely dependent on their allies.
Narendra Modi has never led a coalition government in his political career. Not even when he was Chief Minister in Gujarat, not even in the last two tenures at the Centre. On the other hand, Congress-led India Alliance got more seats than expected.
Considering the weak position of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) against a strong opposition party, maintaining stability in the party as well as in running the government will be a challenge.
Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi termed the election result as a moral defeat for the prime minister and told reporters, "The country has told Modi ji that we don't want you."
Like the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP also contested the 2024 elections in the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Whether the constituency candidate was mentioned or not, Narendra Modi's face was on every poster.
During the election campaign, he repeated the slogan "Modi Ki Garanti" in every public meeting. He promised to ensure the continuation of the policies implemented by his government during the last decade.
Therefore, this result is considered to reduce his political prestige. Seema Chishti, editor of news website The Wire “Prime Minister Narendra Modi's image has suffered. So far, BJP's Hindutva project was getting a legitimacy due to the majority of the people. So now the party cannot form the government on its own, so this is a big change.”
The BJP's five-year tenure was accused of suppressing the media and misusing central investigative agencies to target the opposition. There were widespread protests against the Modi government's anti-Muslim citizenship laws, the CAA-NRC, and the withdrawal of the Agriculture Act after farmers' agitation.
Political analyst Yogendra Yadav called the election result a "victory of the people over the system" during an interview on a TV channel.
Modi is not invincible
However, when Narendra Modi arrived at the BJP office to address the party workers, he was given a rousing welcome. Flowers were showered and 'Jai Shri Ram' slogans were chanted. It was not revealed whether he had any concerns about the next term in mind.
He called the result the biggest win in the world and said, "It motivates me to work harder."
Times ahead may be new and difficult for Narendra Modi. It cannot be denied that running a coalition government for the first time requires a lot of effort.
Before this election, the BJP lost its oldest ally, the Akali Dal, and another old ally, the Shiv Sena, split into two. It sets a wrong precedent for the party's attitude towards its smaller allies.
Purnima Joshi, political editor of the English daily The Hindu Business Line, told , "Narendra Modi's political prestige has gone down a lot and he will no longer be in a position to make unilateral policies and decisions like he did in the previous two terms."
According to Purnima Joshi, the BJP's ten-year trend of openly making hateful statements against the Muslim community may also be reined in during the coalition period.
Political stability
It is possible that Narendra Modi will have to listen not only to the voices of the coalition partners but also within his own party.
Poornima Joshi said, "Narendra Modi took unilateral decisions on the strength of the strong support he got in this previous election, removed senior party leaders and the party had to follow him like an army following the orders of an army general."
Narendra Modi will turn 75 next year, which he himself declared as the retirement age in the BJP. Of course, he has now backtracked and said in recent election rallies that he was "sent by God," but the possibility of his survival at the top of the party being questioned cannot be ruled out.
Freedom
In this election, the main opposition party Congress managed to almost double its victory in last year's 53 seats. In the press conference after the results were announced, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi held a copy of the constitution and said that the poorest and most backward citizens of the country have voted for the opposition party to save the constitution.
Being the largest party in the India Alliance, the voice of the Congress and other opposition parties is now likely to be raised in Parliament.
The opposition parties had earlier accused the BJP of withholding financial assistance from their state governments. After securing a strong position in the election results, he now hopes to further strengthen the federal structure of the country.
The BJP has also been accused of undermining constitutional institutions like the Election Commission, exerting pressure on the media and inducting political leaders into its party out of greed for money and fear of scrutiny.
Seema Chishti said, "Despite all this, if the opposition has managed to do this much, I hope it will create an atmosphere to bring together the fragmented Indian society."
It is possible that the BJP may try to bring back the law to increase government control over TV and digital media in its third term.
In the mainstream media, there have been accusations of bowing to the government or acting under their pressure following buyouts by big companies.
Yogendra Yadav hopes that the pressure will ease in BJP's third term. "I hope the media will wake up now and raise its voice again," he said.
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