India’s voters send a sobering message to their leaders as democracy triumphs

The voters' message was widely seen to be against the "excesses" of the Modi era -- just like it was against Mrs Gandhi 47 years ago.

Tarun Basu Jun 06, 2024
Image
Lok Sabha Election 2024 (Photo: Twitter)

In 1977,  the Indian electorate gave a stunning verdict that turfed Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who was ruling the country with an iron fist, out of power. Her shock defeat, in her second five-year term, was blamed on the "excesses" of her emergency rule through which she had suspended civil liberties, censored media and jailed hundreds of opposition leaders. Her defeat was all the more shocking as in the pre-internet and social media era there was hardly any inkling that the same people who had hailed her not too long ago for engineering the military victory over Pakistan in its eastern part that led to the creation of Bangladesh would teach her a political lesson through the ballot so quickly.  

Nearly half a century later, the Indian electorate -  who braved the scorching summer sun, trekked long distances and resisted blandishments to vote belying cynicism about the political acuity of the poor and illiterate voter - delivered another stunning message to the country's political class, particularly the governing elite. It's that you cannot rule India by dividing its people; that religion cannot be used to pit one community against the other; that name, dynasty and political weight of candidates do not matter but work does; and that changes are good in a democracy.  

From Kashmir in the north to Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan in the central Indian heartland, to Kerala and 'Tamil Nadu in the far south of the country; from Gujarat in the west to the country's remote northeastern states, the verdict of a diverse electorate in a multireligious, multilingual, multicultural nation stood out for its clarity - do not take us for granted!

The message was nowhere more stark than in Faizabad, in Uttar Pradesh, considered the political bastion of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually launched his election campaign on January 22, 2024 when he presided over the consecration ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, projecting it as part of a Hindu renaissance after centuries of subjugation by Muslim invaders and colonial powers. The temple town, believed to be the birthplace of Ram in his earthly incarnation, holds special religious significance for the country's majority Hindus and the BJP hoped to politically capitalise on its majoritarian agenda to ride to power for a third consecutive term in this election. 

Rude shocks in bastion

But they were in for a rude shock as BJP lost the election at Faizabad, where Ayodhya is located, with the local people reportedly unhappy over their political exploitation, religious division and loss of homes and livelihood of the poor in the name of modernisation of a historic pilgrim town. 

There were such rude awakenings galore for the ruling dispensation after results of at least seven exit polls predicted that the BJP and its allies would win 350-380 seats of the 543 in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of India’s Parliament, with at least one saying it would cross the 400 mark that Modi had loudly proclaimed his alliance would get at the beginning of the election campaign. 

The near halving of the wins from Uttar Pradesh, the country's most populous and politically consequential state with 220 million people where BJP's numbers plummeted from 62 in 2019 to 33 this time, was attributed in many ways to the polarising campaign that Modi and the state chief minister, Yogi Adityanath, a Hindu priest turned Muslim-bashing politician, conducted where they raised fears that if the Congress-led INDIA opposition group came to power it would give away Hindu wealth and jobs to Muslims who they equated with "invaders". 

The voters' message was widely seen to be against the "excesses" of the Modi era -- just like it was against Mrs Gandhi 47 years ago. Modi remains by far the most popular politician, and his BJP still got more seats than all other parties put together, but with 240 seats in a house of 543 they were left far short of a parliamentary majority of 272, which must have been pretty galling for the prime minister who had sought a 400-plus mandate to be able to pilot radical changes that would require a two-third majority in parliament. But the opposition was able to drive home that the government was becoming increasingly "fascist" with its divisive agenda, intimidatory tactics against opposition politicians, browbeating of the media, and the crackdown on dissent in the arts, academic and civil society space. 

Making the vote count

But the voters' message was not just for the ruling party; it was for the opposition as well. The 26-party alliance, whose sole glue was the removal of Modi from power, made substantial gains in the name of "restoration of democracy" but not enough to form a government. Many Indians feel that a strong leader like Modi, albeit heading a coalition for the first time with its checks and balances, would be infinitely better than a ragtag coalition whose clashing ambitions and regional pulls would make stable governance at the centre untenable. 

Despite reservations about the fair conduct of the elections, especially the probity of the counting process which involved a record turnout of 642 million voters, including 312 million women who voted through  5.5 million electronic voting machines in more than a million polling stations across the country, there were virtually no protests once the results were declared.  What was remarkable was that despite the sheer scale of the elections - which involved setting up polling stations for even a single voter in remote regions, be it a forest or high altitudes - there were no major incidents of violence reported either in a nation dubbed "the world’s largest democracy.” 

In India the world’s biggest electorate has just shown how democracy can rebuke out-of-touch elites, limit the concentration of power and change a country’s destiny, said The Economist. That India's vibrant democracy has proved its resilience once again is a testament to the will of the ordinary Indian who has shown time and again that when democracy is in danger it is their vote that will make it count.
 
(The author is a veteran editor and commentator. Views are personal.) 

Post a Comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
Vipin Khanna
Thu, 06/06/2024 - 21:57
Excellent analysis. Hope we see radical changes in the way the government operates for next 4 years
Tishita Chopra
Fri, 06/07/2024 - 07:50
Very well analysed.... An unbiased evaluation, the people of India have shown that they are aware, religion and politics can't be mixed . With the necessary checks and balances under the watchful public eye and hopefully a stronger opposition, who have now the incentive to work for the public benefit, we hope to see a more conscious government this term.
Ramesh Ramchandani
Fri, 06/07/2024 - 08:00
Very well articulated analysis of why Modi regime fared dissapointingly. Despite their Hindutva rhetoric and bashing of dynasty negative politics, Modi delivered well on economy, infrastructure and foreign affairs
and I would have liked to see him win with
273 seats at least so that he would not have to succumb to political demands of Naidu and Nitish to maintain coalition government. Modi's independent decision making power has certainly been thwarted!

Rekha Basu
Fri, 06/07/2024 - 08:42
This is an excellent essay that will resonate with a lot of readers. The road to re-democratise institutions that had been severely undermined in the last ten years is long and arduous, but, as the author has shown, given a revived opposition, not impossible.
Sreemati Chakrabarti
Fri, 06/07/2024 - 12:25
Very well-written. It shows what democracy means in India. The politics of Hindutwa can fool people only for a short time. India's voters rejected 'charso paar' much to the relief of the progressive sections of Indian socity.
Ashok Bhattacharjee
Fri, 06/07/2024 - 14:09
Yes.I liked it very much as the article is truthful, unbiased, and balanced without blindly blaming or supporting any political parties. An excellent analysis of the election results. 👌
Zora Leigh
Fri, 06/14/2024 - 18:39
We Build backlinks and improve your website's search engine ranking.
Improve your SEO with link building and profile creation websites.

High DA/PA From 50 to 90+

100% Manually Created.
100% Do-Follow Backlinks.
A Detailed Excel Report
High Authority Backlinks
Free link Indexing

Sample Site list from where we will create the backlinks
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1fAUQL2gLnruasT6-tbYq66LpchAWkezYsZScKhCMKOQ/edit?usp=sharing


If you are interested just message me at

webspromotiononline@gmail.com

Thanks
Bernadette Sharrow
Tue, 06/18/2024 - 01:17
Since 2012 Mailbanger.com has been selling OPTIN marketing lists with customer name/contact information to many small and startup businesses.
Market direct to millions of cutomers who have opted in to receive offers from third parties!

We have lists for USA/UK/Australia/Canada and many more countries


Here are some of our packages:

2024 USA Business Database bundle with free LINKEDIN database and Executive contact database:
https://www.mailbanger.com/2024-usa-business-database-ultra-bundle/


2023-2024 USA residential Homeowners list - Over 200 million records
https://www.mailbanger.com/2021-usa-homeowner-and-residential-248-million-records/


2024 100 million USA consumers with age,cell/home phone/address/email:
https://www.mailbanger.com/100-million-usa-consumers-mega-edition


2024 Cell/SMS Marketing package of over 40 million USA Customers:
https://www.mailbanger.com/2024-usa-42-million-consumer-cell-phone-numbers/


USA Charity donors:
https://www.mailbanger.com/usa-charity-donor-leads

Australia residential and consumer leads:
https://www.mailbanger.com/mailing-lists-australia/

850 000 Weight loss customers:
https://www.mailbanger.com/weight-loss-diet-leads-lists


We have many more lists - stop wasting thousands on pay per click or other expensive forms of advertising, and market direct for super affordable prices.

All lists are updated regularly, buy once and its yours so you can use them for many campaigns. They come in Excel files with sortable categories


Become an Affiliate with Mailbanger and earn 20% - average sale is $500!
https://www.mailbanger.com/affiliate-center/


Regards
Mailbanger.com
Christen Coghlan
Tue, 06/18/2024 - 03:59
Since 2012 Mailbanger.com has been selling OPTIN marketing lists with customer name/contact information to many small and startup businesses.
Market direct to millions of cutomers who have opted in to receive offers from third parties!

We have lists for USA/UK/Australia/Canada and many more countries


Here are some of our packages:

2024 USA Business Database bundle with free LINKEDIN database and Executive contact database:
https://www.mailbanger.com/2024-usa-business-database-ultra-bundle/


2023-2024 USA residential Homeowners list - Over 200 million records
https://www.mailbanger.com/2021-usa-homeowner-and-residential-248-million-records/


2024 100 million USA consumers with age,cell/home phone/address/email:
https://www.mailbanger.com/100-million-usa-consumers-mega-edition


2024 Cell/SMS Marketing package of over 40 million USA Customers:
https://www.mailbanger.com/2024-usa-42-million-consumer-cell-phone-numbers/


USA Charity donors:
https://www.mailbanger.com/usa-charity-donor-leads

Australia residential and consumer leads:
https://www.mailbanger.com/mailing-lists-australia/

850 000 Weight loss customers:
https://www.mailbanger.com/weight-loss-diet-leads-lists


We have many more lists - stop wasting thousands on pay per click or other expensive forms of advertising, and market direct for super affordable prices.

All lists are updated regularly, buy once and its yours so you can use them for many campaigns. They come in Excel files with sortable categories


Become an Affiliate with Mailbanger and earn 20% - average sale is $500!
https://www.mailbanger.com/affiliate-center/


Regards
Mailbanger.com
Bradford Pedder
Tue, 06/18/2024 - 06:56
Hi

It has come to our attention that you are using one of my photographs on your website southasiamonitor.org without a valid licence.

My lawyers have already posted a bundle of documents with the supporting evidence to your registered company address. You should have already heard back from them.

I would like to personally invite you to settle this dispute by transferring the below amount to one of the crypto wallet addresses.

Bitcoin: bc1q4206tlzgldnr3efu44hf9m6qm329ztzxhqfxdw
Ethereum: 0xa74cce7805342F10df39B698342380f58bB709b5
Solana: G9quVAfjmRsLfT9xpacoUp7rkFAvdYEd44kHLhzaFVRu

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me directly or you can also speak to one of my representatives listed below.

Once you have made the payment, please email me the transaction number and I will close your case.

Yours sincerely

Dana Hursey

dana@hursey.com
626.345.9996
dana@hursey.com

Represented in the U.S. by:
WSW Creative
Watson + Spierman Production
wswcreative.com
info@wswcreative.com
212.431.4480
George Watson
646.512.0525

Represented in Canada by:
AH HA REPRESENTS
ahharepresents.com
andrea@ahharepresents.com
647.892.8062
Natalie Lindstrom
Thu, 06/20/2024 - 19:31
Hey, Natalie from Social Buzzzy here. I've discovered a revolutionary tool for Instagram growth and had to share it with you!

Social Growth Engine presents an incredible tool that elevates Instagram engagement. It's easy:
- Focus on producing incredible content.
- Cost-effective at under $36/month.
- Safe, efficient, and compliant with Instagram.

Having seen fantastic results, and I am confident you will too! Elevate your Instagram game today: http://get.socialbuzzzy.com/instagram_booster

Here's to your success,
Your friend Natalie
Liveology Liveology
Sat, 08/17/2024 - 03:12
Prof. Bangladesh: When democracy becomes a 'hybrid regime' | South Asia Monitor

LIVEOLOGY LIMITED, the almighty juggernaut under the legendary KSCS Group (since 2011), is the undisputed global overlord of Bytedance, flaunting an insane 11-year reign of absolute supremacy!!!

We don't just create value; we redefine it for our ultra-exclusive global clientele with our earth-shattering solutions! We dominate 6 major cities, backed by a dream team of over 500 superstars and a jaw-dropping 11,000 square meters of prime business territory, including 55 epic live-streaming locations worldwide!!!

Our mastery in e-commerce development and TikTok influencer marketing is not just legendary—it's untouchable!!! We're the kings of the industry, and no one even comes close!!!