According to Professor Sebasti L. Raj, the BJP lost some key constituencies because it focused on religious discourse, instead of solving real problems of the people. The opposition is not a single bloc and must remain united to continue to be successful. The new dynamics that may emerge even within the BJP itself will become clearer with the formation of the government.
New Delhi () – Pluralism won in India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), failed to obtain a majority to govern alone as in the 2014 and 2019 elections. Although Modi was confirmed for a third term, over the next five years he will have to negotiate with two influential allies: the Janata Dal (United), a regional party from Bihar, and the Telugu Desam Party, from Andhra Pradesh, not so interested in the Hindu ultranationalism that the BJP has spread in the last 10 years. And “he will also not be able to ignore the opposition as he has done until now,” said Sebasti L. Raj, a Jesuit, executive director of the Indian Social Institute based in New Delhi. “We can expect less imposition from the BJP, which previously did not deal with the opposition at all, while now, to stay in power, it will also have to accommodate different opinions.”
The National Democratic Alliance won 293 seats, of which 240 went to the BJP. A notable difference compared to 2019, when it alone had exceeded 300 seats of the 543 available in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian Parliament. The opposition, led by Congress, won 232 seats, most of them in constituencies that belonged to the BJP.
New voices could emerge within the prime minister’s party: “Modi has been the leader of the party for years, until now all dissenting voices have been silenced. But besides the fact that he is no longer young (he is 73 years old), the fact that he now has to face strong leaders will probably give courage to others to come forward and speak out.” At the moment, however, it is difficult to imagine a leadership succession. “Many things will become clearer once the formation of the government is announced,” Professor Raj said. Modi will take the oath to begin the new term on June 9 and “it will be clear from the names chosen for institutional positions what compromises the BJP has accepted to keep the majority united.”
The large and most populated states are those that dictated the new direction that the country could take. “Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu – Professor Raj recalled – are those where the BJP obtained the worst results, and now it will be interesting to see how the elections for local legislative assemblies develop.”
“In the southern states, the BJP has no influence because the local administration has more autonomy. This has also allowed for greater change. Central government should do the minimum in sectors such as education and training and decentralize powers as much as possible. The BJP, on the other hand, wanted to impose a language and a religion on a country, India, which has always been a plural State. There is economic wealth, but in my opinion the true wealth of our country lies in the cultural diversity,” commented the Jesuit.
And perhaps it is precisely for this reason that the regional parties, both within the majority and in the opposition bloc, have emerged as the true new protagonists of these elections. “The BJP has lost in several key constituencies because it talked too much about religion and too little about the concrete, practical issues that concerned citizens: unemployment, prospects for youth, food security. Especially after the pandemic, the rich became very rich, but the poor have become poorer. “Building temples and praying are not enough, people have concrete problems to solve.”
In Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, where Modi had inaugurated a Hindu temple dedicated to the god Ram, the opposition prevailed, although “it is not a single bloc,” Professor Raj continued. “The very fact that the alliance (called INDIA) has held is actually a great achievement, because in January it was on the verge of falling apart. I hope they remain united, for their own good and that of the nation, because it is the only way to counter the BJP. “Many fear that Modi will try to divide the parties that have allied themselves with Congress, in which case everything would fall apart.”
On the contrary, the party that ruled India after independence should try to build its future on this new basis. “Certainly the Congress was successful because it spoke to the population about concrete problems, it did not limit itself to talking about the low probability that a majority dominated by the BJP could change the Constitution,” Raj said. “But they must go back to building a new foundation starting from the bottom; People are asking for radical change that involves brave decisions on the part of politicians. If Indians did not vote for the BJP, it is because they did not fulfill what they had promised. The opposition movement was spontaneous, we can say; “People wanted a change because they need someone to work for the people,” the professor continued.
“Minorities, not only religious ones like Christians or Muslims, but also ethnic and linguistic ones in India can breathe a sigh of relief,” continued the ISI director. “Now we hope that the differences that characterize India will be respected,” the Jesuit reiterated. “In this situation, a phrase from Jawaharlal Nehru, Indian Prime Minister after independence, comes to mind, who said that it was important to listen to the opposition, even if it was made up of only one man. Well, this way our country might progress slowly, but it will certainly move forward on the path of democracy.”
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