A Narendra Modi tsunami hit India on Friday, enabling the Bharatiya Janata Party to form the next government on its own with Modi as the new prime minister and mauling the entire opposition in such a way that no party, not even the Congress, can have a leader of opposition in either house of Parliament.
The Modi-led BJP won 283 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha, 11 more from the magic number of 272. The Congress suffered its worst-defeat with just 44 seats, substantially lower than its previous worst performance of 114 seats in 1999. The Bahujan Samaj Party failed to open its account even after getting the third largest vote share and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) finishing with just 4 seats (out of 440 it contested) with its leader Arvind Kejriwal too getting defeated, though at the hands of none other than Modi.
The rout of the Congress shocked even the BJP as the 129-year-old party lost even the prestigious leader of the opposition status. To get that status, Congress required one tenth of the total members that is at least 55 MPs.
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi read out a short statement, smilingly, and said his party expected to do better and added that he took the blame for the party's defeat. “I would like to congratulate the new government. They have clearly been given a mandate and I wish them all the best,” Rahul said.
Rahul’s mother and Congress president Sonia Gandhi made a slightly longer statement, accepting the mandate of the people, adding that “in these elections the Congress candidates did the best against the opposition but the people have not given us the mandate. We accept that… We hope that the new government will not compromise on the country's unity.”
Congress leader and union minister Jairam Ramesh finally admitted that there was a 'Modi effect'. Sample his remark: “This is worse than we expected. We need to take a look case by case. Clearly there was a Modi effect no doubt about it. The Congress has faced difficult times in the past. It has a vast reservoir of strength. It has workers in every village and every town.”
The Left parties recorded their worst performance in decades. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) said it was “an anti-Congress wave” from which the BJP benefitted. The BJP has gained from this anti-Congress wave resulting in a big victory for the BJP and the NDA. There was an unprecedented use of money power in these elections,” CPM politburo said in a statement.
BJP President Rajnath Singh, in his brief victory address replete with “Modi! Modi!” chants said: “Never before in history has the Congress been defeated by such a margin”.
Modi, who was accused of masterminding the anti-Muslim riots in his home state of Gujarat in 2002, promised to work for all Indians and particularly the young as he fed building expectations of what he will deliver.
“I want to make the 21st century India's century. It will take 10 years, not very long,” said the four-term chief minister of Gujarat who is expected to be sworn in as prime minister next week.
“I want to take all of you with me to take this country forward... it is my responsibility to take all of you with me to run this country,” Modi added in front of a crowd of thousands in his constituency of Vadodara.
