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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) clinched a landslide victory in key state elections that are seen as a referendum on the performance of Modi’s three-year-old government.
BJP won 311 out of 403 seats in Uttar Pradesh, India’s largest state. The historic verdict would boost Modi’s chances of winning another term as India’s prime minister in 2019 elections. The victory has come as a big morale-booster for Modi, who had campaigned extensively in the region for his party’s nominees. Indian prime minister continued a winning run in the state for the BJP, which won 71 of Uttar Pradesh’s 80 seats in India’s Parliament in 2014 national elections.
From the results, it is apparent that BJP was successful in breaking the all-pervasive caste and class barriers. The party succeeded in forging a coalition of upper, middle-ranking and lower castes in Uttar Pradesh.
The astounding performance of BJP has changed the political picture of the country.
Before the elections, the poll pundits had speculated that Modi’s controversial decision to invalidate 86% of currency notes in November would be Achilles heel for BJP. When the stories of suffering, suicides, hunger emerged following demonetisation, the party’s electoral prospects seemed dim.
But the election result has proved that far from hurting Modi’s stature, demonetization added to it; voters saw the move hurt the corrupt rich much more than it did anyone else. Modi was seen as someone who had the guts to take brave decisions to help the poor at the expense of the powerful. The Congress party and other BJP rivals vainly hoped that voters would punish Modi’s government for its decision to demonetize the
country’s highest-value currency bills which brought immense economic hardships, especially to the poor.
The government was able to tide over the problem as voting started last month. People have strongly supported Modi on the demonetization issue believing it was a step taken to recover unaccounted money hoarded by the rich. The voters, especially the young, underemployed and disconnected, voted for jobs, pride and Modi.
The victory has added to Modi’s invincible aura. At present, he simply appears to be unchallenged as a national leader. If he chooses to implement the structural reforms that India badly needs to increase its competitiveness and create the jobs his voters long for, no opposition party has the political wherewithal to stand in his way. He has more than enough state governments under his control to bend India’s federal structure to his will.
But it very much depends on how Modi himself chooses to read this result. He will have to abandon partisan politics and will have to rise upto the expectations of voters who gave him mandate to drive economic reform. He must not be complacent like those whom the voters rejected. Modi must see the verdict as an expression of faith by the
disenchanted and deliver on his promises of inclusive progress and
development.