Narendra Modi government: A year of hits and misses

New Delhi: Exactly a year before —led by the charismatic and powerful political orator Narendra Damodardas Modi — the BJP stormed to power with a brute majority. On the first anniversary of the saffron wave crushing the Congress’ hand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in China setting another milestone on the diplomatic front.

A year after this huge electoral victory things are, however, not the same on the domestic front for the BJP any more. It received a historical drubbing in Delhi, and if it loses the forthcoming Bihar Assembly polls, then it could set alarm bells ringing for the party. Also, the resurgence of Mr Rahul Gandhi in his new avatar is making the BJP somewhat uncomfortable.

It was today in 2014, when riding on the Modi wave (which turned into a tsunami) the saffron brigade routed the Congress led by Rahul Gandhi. India voted for change. Creating history, the NDA, led by Mr Modi, bagged 335 seats, and the BJP won 282 seats on its own. This was the biggest victory for any party after Rajiv Gandhi’s massive 400-plus electoral triumph in 1984.

Also, it was the first time that any non-Congress party had won a majority on its own. On the other hand, the Congress, led to the polls by Rahul Gandhi, was not merely decimated, but recorded its worst-ever performance, managing to win only 44 seats and failing to open its account in seven states, including Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Goa, Delhi and Himachal Pradesh.

Rahul Gandhi, who was trailing in Amethi, his home turf, during the initial rounds, managed to scrape past the BJP’s  Smriti Irani. Not only the Congress, the much-hyped Aam Aadmi Party, led by the rising star of Indian politics, Mr Arvind Kejriwal, drowned in the Modi wave. Mr Kejriwal, who had challenged Mr Modi in Varanasi, lost by over three lakh votes. 

The invincible saffron juggernaut rolled on with the party grabbing Haryana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Jammu and Kashmir. It seemed there was no stopping Mr Modi and his master strategist and BJP president, Amit Shah. Saffronites ridiculed Mr Gandhi and began writing the obituary of the Congress. They called him many things, including a “guest actor” in Indian politics.

However, after the results of the Delhi elections the signals were clear: the middle class, which had voted overwhelmingly for the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls, had shifted. “The middle class wanted quick results, not mere rhetoric,” the BJP functionary said. Also, rabid, inflammatory speeches by Union minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti and a host of others, and not merely the Prime Minister’s refusal to take action, disillusioned the educated middle class which had voted the BJP to power on the much-hyped “development plank”.

Yet all was not lost for the BJP as, despite the Delhi win Mr Kejriwal was still being considered a “local player”. The forthcoming Bihar elections will be a test for the BJP, where an electoral victory would give Mr Modi a huge boost.