‘India has won. Good days are coming’
Modi’s party claims victory in election
NEW DELHI — Narendra Modi, the controversial Hindu nationalist leader, declared “India has won” after leading his Bharatiya Janata Party to a landslide victory Friday in the biggest election in history.
His party’s victory marked the first time in 30 years that a single party won an Indian general election or came to power without needing coalition partners to form a government.
“I want to make the 21st century India’s century,” declared the BJP leader in his home state of Gujarat, after a campaign in which he promised to develop the economy of the world’s second largest country. “India is our mother. How can we watch our mother cry?”
The results were a crushing defeat for the Congress party, which is deeply entwined with the NehruGandhi political dynasty that has been at the centre of Indian politics for most of the country’s post-independence history.
The party, led by outgoing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, has been plagued by repeated corruption scandals and a poor economy.
Rahul Gandhi, the Congress dynasty scion who led his party’s general election campaign, congratulated Modi and accepted the blame for the scale of its defeat. “The Congress party has done badly and as Congress vice-president I take full responsibility,” he said.
Modi will have a strong mandate to govern at a time of profound changes in Indian society. But critics worry the ascendance of his Hindu nationalist party could worsen sectarian tensions with India’s minority 138 million Muslims. Modi remains a divisive figure in the country of 1.2 billion people, in large part because he, as chief minister of Gujarat state, was in command in 2002 when communal rioting there killed more than 1,000 people — most of them Muslims. Modi was accused of doing little to stop the rampage, though he denies any wrongdoing and has never been charged with a crime.
The BJP leader claimed his victory on Friday with a short statement on Twitter. “India has won. Good days are coming,” he wrote shortly before he went to seek blessings from his mother in his home state of Gujarat.
In his first rally following his victory, Modi said the people had given their verdict and his task now was “to take India forward to fulfil the dreams of India’s 1.2 billion people.”
Modi, 63, won his landslide with a presidential-style campaign which focused on his reputation for strong government in Gujarat. He highlighted his “Gujarat model” of development in his state, and support among India’s business leaders for his approach to investment. During the campaign, Modi won a number of high-profile Muslim supporters with promises of jobs and education.
He will now face pressure to deliver a quick improvement in the economy, growing at its slowest rate in a decade.
There was a record turnout in the election, with 66.38 per cent of India’s 814 million eligible voters casting ballots during the six-week contest, which began April 7 and was held in stages across the country. Turnout in the 2009 general election was 58.13 per cent.
Sreeram Chaulia, a political analyst and dean of the Jindal School of International Affairs, said the BJP’s image as a purely capitalist, pro-business party resonated across India. That image contrasts with Congress, which is considered more of a welfare party, mixing capitalist reforms with handouts for the poor.
“A lot of ordinary people believed in (Modi’s) message and wanted to give him the strong mandate he was seeking, to see if he could really change things in India,” Chaulia said. “There has been growth in the middle class, so of course why have they punished the incumbents? Because they want more, obviously, something more than subsistence. They want upward mobility.”