India’s next prime minister Narendra Modi listens to his 90-year-old mother Hiraben during a visit to seek her blessings after preliminary results showed his party winning by a landslide, in Gandhinagar, Gujarat on May 16. AP Photo)
Narendra Modi scripts history, to become PM; Congress decimated
2014 GENERAL ELECTION RESULTS
Alliance Total seats won
NDA 337
UPA 58
AAP 4
AITC 34
AIADMK 36
Others 74
In addition, two Anglo-Indian members
may be nominated by the President
may be nominated by the President
Source: TOI
New Delhi, May 16 (IANS): In a historic election that would could have far-reaching implications for India’s polity and its policies, Narendra Modi, a rank outsider to Delhi’s politics, was poised to become the 14th prime minister of this diverse nation of 1.2 billion people, storming into its citadels of power by decimating the Congress party that has ruled the country for much of the period since its independence.
“I have been elected as the prime worker of the people,” said Modi, seeking to project his humility in a victory speech at Vadodara, in Gujarat, to almost rockstar-like adulation from screaming supporters, both men and women and thousands of young people. Modi won with a parliamentary record margin of over 570,000 votes from Vadodara, one of the two constituencies from which he contested, the other being Varanasi, from where also he won.
“All the people of this country are ours. It is our responsibility to take everyone along. Our mission will be: With all, development for all,” said he, seeking to allay fears among minorities about his rise.
Modi pointed out to resounding cheers from the crowd how this was the first time that a non-Congress party had got a majority on its own in a national election in India that was followed keenly around the world.
A host of global leaders from Britain, Japan, Israel, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Australia rang up or sent congratulatory messages to Modi, who is widely expected to have a more muscular foreign policy and even changes some of India’s international equations.
The Congress faced its worst humiliation, raising question marks about the future of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty that has given India most of its prime ministers. Congress’ de facto prime ministerial candidate Rahul Gandhi, whose father, grandmother and great grandfather were all prime ministers, was humbled by Modi in a way that the Congress plummeted to its lowest ever two-digit tally in a national election.
“It is the start of a new era in Indian politics,” exclaimed Rajnath Singh, the BJP president whose audacious move to name Modi as the prime ministerial candidate of the party late last year upset the veterans but was wholeheartedly endorsed by the party rank and file. Even political pundits gasped at the sheer scale of the BJP’s sweep.
The Congress did not win a single seat in seven states and it was unlikely to win more than 10 seats in any state. The elections proved a graveyard for Congress stalwarts. At least 23 ministers of Manmohan Singh’s government lost. Manmohan Singh, who had announced his retirement earlier this year, did not contest.
Many Congress veterans bit the dust. They included Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, Communications Minister Kapil Sibal, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, Corporate Affairs Minister Sachin Pilot and Sports Minister Jitendra Singh.
After the win became clear in the morning itself, a visibly jubilant Modi promptly called on his ageing mother, the one person he respects the most, in Gandhinagar and hugged her as television cameras relayed the scene to the nation.
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Factors that helped Modi win
ECONOMY: India’s once-impressive economic growth slowed to below 5 percent in the last year while inflation rocketed into double digits. The BJP and Modi maintained a laser focus on the economy throughout the campaign, hammering the Congress party for stalled development projects while touting Gujarat as a model of success. In fact, Gujarat’s growth has been mediocre compared with others of India’s 28 states. But Modi’s message resonated with an electorate aching for change and upward mobility.
CORRUPTION: Indians are incensed over the enduring culture of corruption at every level of government. While some scandals have involved BJP members, Modi and his reputation are unscathed. Voters believe Modi has the political strength to curb any corrupt tendencies within his government.
YOUTH: India’s electorate is particularly young, with half the country’s 814 million voters under 35 and eager to secure employment with promise. They are also impatient with India’s political tradition of whipping up communal loyalties to secure votes.
TECHNOLOGY: The BJP and Modi ran a breathless and tech-savvy campaign that dazzled and engaged voters directly through social media. Modi snapped campaign selfies that went viral and even appeared as a holograph at campaign events. He has tweeted daily for years. By contrast, his main rival from the Congress party, Rahul Gandhi, shunned Twitter himself while his party took to the site only this year.
INFRASTRUCTURE: India’s crumbling roads and ports, plus lack of adequate electricity supply, were high on the list of problems that make business projects hard to get off the ground. In Gujarat, Modi made infrastructure improvements a priority, building thousands of kilometers of highways and attracting investment to build up the country’s largest modern port.
Associated Press
ECONOMY: India’s once-impressive economic growth slowed to below 5 percent in the last year while inflation rocketed into double digits. The BJP and Modi maintained a laser focus on the economy throughout the campaign, hammering the Congress party for stalled development projects while touting Gujarat as a model of success. In fact, Gujarat’s growth has been mediocre compared with others of India’s 28 states. But Modi’s message resonated with an electorate aching for change and upward mobility.
CORRUPTION: Indians are incensed over the enduring culture of corruption at every level of government. While some scandals have involved BJP members, Modi and his reputation are unscathed. Voters believe Modi has the political strength to curb any corrupt tendencies within his government.
YOUTH: India’s electorate is particularly young, with half the country’s 814 million voters under 35 and eager to secure employment with promise. They are also impatient with India’s political tradition of whipping up communal loyalties to secure votes.
TECHNOLOGY: The BJP and Modi ran a breathless and tech-savvy campaign that dazzled and engaged voters directly through social media. Modi snapped campaign selfies that went viral and even appeared as a holograph at campaign events. He has tweeted daily for years. By contrast, his main rival from the Congress party, Rahul Gandhi, shunned Twitter himself while his party took to the site only this year.
INFRASTRUCTURE: India’s crumbling roads and ports, plus lack of adequate electricity supply, were high on the list of problems that make business projects hard to get off the ground. In Gujarat, Modi made infrastructure improvements a priority, building thousands of kilometers of highways and attracting investment to build up the country’s largest modern port.
Associated Press
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Some prominent winners & losers
Winners
Gourav Gogoi, Innocent, Kirron Kher, LK Advani, Maneka Gandhi, Moon Moon Sen, Poonam Mahajan, Rahul Gandhi, Rajnath Singh, Shashi Tharoor, Shatrughan Sinha, Sonia Gandhi, Sushma Swaraj, Varun Gandhi
Losers
Ambika Soni, Arun Jaitley, Arvind Kejriwal, Bappi Lahiri, Bhaichung Bhutia, Farooq Abdullah, Jaya Prada, Kapil Sibal, Meira Kumar, Priya Dutt, Raj Babbar, Rakhi Sawant, Sachin Pilot, Sharad Yadav, Sushil Kumar Shinde
Winners
Gourav Gogoi, Innocent, Kirron Kher, LK Advani, Maneka Gandhi, Moon Moon Sen, Poonam Mahajan, Rahul Gandhi, Rajnath Singh, Shashi Tharoor, Shatrughan Sinha, Sonia Gandhi, Sushma Swaraj, Varun Gandhi
Losers
Ambika Soni, Arun Jaitley, Arvind Kejriwal, Bappi Lahiri, Bhaichung Bhutia, Farooq Abdullah, Jaya Prada, Kapil Sibal, Meira Kumar, Priya Dutt, Raj Babbar, Rakhi Sawant, Sachin Pilot, Sharad Yadav, Sushil Kumar Shinde
