2024 India Election Results Show BJP’s Divisive Reign And Murderous Foreign Plots Coming To Abrupt End!

While Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who’s enjoyed 10 years of majority and become a symbol of communal division in India, something he started in his home state of Gujarat as Chief Minister responsible for murderous campaign against Muslims, declared victory Tuesday, but he lost majority and now looks to form a shaky coalition government which could crumble and lead to Rahul Gandhi-Congress led India Alliance coming to power with the help of big regional winners like Chandra Babu Naidu and “Kingmaker” Nitesh Kumar, who is being offered the Prime Minister’s post to come to the India Alliance side. One thing is clear that Modi and his communal rightwing party Bharitya Janta Party’s (BJP) divisive decade long reign and murderous foreign plots against Sikhs (Indian government-backed agencies killed Canadian Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar and attempted to kill Khalistan movement chief Gurpatwant Singh Pannu) are coming to an abrupt end.

By PD Raj – Senior Reporter DESIBUZZCanada 

With News Files

NEW DELHI — While Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who’s enjoyed 10 years of majority and become a symbol of communal division in India, something he started in his home state of Gujarat as Chief Minister responsible for murderous campaign against Muslims, declared victory Tuesday, but he lost majority and now looks to form a shaky coalition government which could crumble and lead to Rahul Gandhi-Congress led India Alliance coming to power with the help of big regional winners like Chandra Babu Naidu and “Kingmaker” Nitesh Kumar, who is being offered the Prime Minister’s post to come to the India Alliance side.

One thing is clear that Modi and his communal rightwing party Bharitya Janta Party’s (BJP) divisive decade long reign and murderous foreign plots against Sikhs (Indian government-backed agencies killed Canadian Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar and attempted to kill Khalistan movement chief Gurpatwant Singh Pannu) are coming to an abrupt end.

Far from the pre-election sloganeering propaganda that claimed BJP-led NDA would get 400 seats out of 543 in India‘s lower house of parliament, the Lok Sabha, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) managed just 294. The number was significantly lower than the 353 the alliance secured in the 2019 general election.

The BJP lost its outright 2019 majority of 303 seats and saw its lead reduced to 240 in 2024. To form the next government and rule for a third consecutive term, it will need the support of its electoral allies. At 6am local time on Wednesday (June 5), the Election Commission was reporting 240 seats for Modi’s BJP, 12 for its ally the JD and 16 for the TDP.

The Indian National Congress-led opposition on the other hand made massive gains compared to 2019. Then called the United Progressive Alliance, the opposition had secured 91 seats, including 52 for the Congress. In 2024, the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) won 231 seats, which included 99 for the Congress.

Modi was still defiant on Tuesday, saying Indian voters had “shown immense faith” both in his party and his National Democratic Alliance coalition.

“This is a victory for the world’s biggest democracy,” Modi told the crowd at his party’s headquarters.

But for the first time since the BJP swept to power in 2014, it did not secure a majority on its own, The Associated Press reported. It won 240 seats with the opposition performing better than expected after fake exit polls suggested Modi’s alliance was cruising toward an overwhelming victory, reported NBC News.

That leaves Modi, whose dominance over India has steadily grown since he gained power in 2014, dependent on forming a coalition to remain in power which will not be easy given the “Kingmaker” status of alliance partners who could defect to India Alliance as has been reported if offered better position and power as has been the case with Nitesh Kumar being offered the PM’s post. So their support for Modi and his crew is not guaranteed.

Rahul Gandhi, leader of the opposition Indian National Congress has left open the possibility that he may try to form a coalition with two parties allied with the BJP that used to be Congress’ partners.

This is not how the election was supposed to go for Modi, who has a vast base of supporters both at home and among the large Indian diaspora who see him as responsible for India’s rocketing economy and rising confidence on the world stage. 

But critics say Modi has also eroded human rights in India and stoked religious tensions, particularly against India’s Muslim minority.

Modi and other BJP candidates were accused of hate speech and other inflammatory rhetoric during the campaign.

India is also struggling to provide enough jobs for its 1.4 billion people, despite being the world’s fastest-growing major economy. 

Anxious and disappointed party workers and Modi supporters were glued to the TV screens, awaiting the final results as the supermajority they had hoped for appeared increasingly out of reach. Others were angry.

“Some voters betrayed us,” said Ram Shankar Maharaj, a Hindu priest who had traveled to New Delhi to watch the results from his home in the northern city of Ayodhya, where Modi in January presided over the opening of a grand Hindu temple on a contested holy site. "They betrayed Indian tradition," reported NBC News.

India’s benchmark stock indices closed at record highs on Monday after exit polls pointed to a thumping victory for Modi, then fell sharply Tuesday as the results became more muddied.

Speaking across from BJP headquarters Tuesday night, Modi said his alliance was poised to form a government. Rather than focusing on the BJP itself, he mentioned the broader alliance multiple times and praised its leaders.

Congress, the main opposition party, was in a buoyant mood. “This is the people’s victory, and democracy’s victory,” Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge told a news conference.

Regardless of the results, Modi’s ethos of a Hindu-first nation is now deeply entrenched in Indian politics, raising fears among Muslims and other minority groups over how they would fare during five more years of Modi rule.

In Modi’s home seat of Varanasi, which voted Saturday in the last of seven phases of voting, Tasneem Fatma walked out of a polling station wearing a burqa, saying, “We want a united India, not for Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Isai.”

Today’s India is run by “a very strong, dominant BJP, which in 1984 had only got four seats in Parliament,” said Yamini Aiyar, former chief executive of the Center for Policy Research, a highly regarded think tank in New Delhi that has been targeted by a Modi government crackdown on civil society, reported NBC News.

In recent years especially, she said, the BJP has become “creepingly authoritarian.”

“Our democracy is at stake,” Aiyar said. 

According to Freedom House, a nonprofit pro-democracy organization in Washington, elections in India are generally considered free and fair, but they are being held in an environment in which freedom of expression is shrinking.

It cited the arrests and prosecutions of journalists, information manipulation using artificial intelligence and other technologies, and Indian authorities’ demands that social media companies remove online content critical of the government, among other issues, reported NBC News.

Hollywood Bible Variety Magazine did an analysis of the election from an entertainment industry perspective, the BJP government’s biggest achievement was its 2022 implementation of a 30% reimbursement scheme for international productions shooting in India. This went up to 40% in 2023 and the cap limit for the reimbursement was also significantly raised from a maximum of $300,000 to $3.5 million, with an additional 5% rebate bonus for significant Indian content, Variety reported.

The BJP’s 2024 manifesto did not directly address the media. Instead, it promised several actions that would indirectly help the film and media industry, including further infrastructure and transport improvements and innovation in AI.

The Congress manifesto on the other hand did address the media directly, promising to amend the Press Council of India Act, 1978 “to strengthen the system of self-regulation, protect journalistic freedoms, uphold editorial independence and guard against government interference.” 

The Congress also said it would pass a law to curb monopolies in the media, cross-ownership of different segments of the media, and control of the media by business organizations.

“Many new laws (e.g. the Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill, 2023; Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023; Press and Registration of Periodicals Act, 2023, etc.) give unbridled powers of censorship to the government,” the Congress manifesto said. “The first named Bill will be withdrawn. The restrictive provisions of the two Acts will be amended or deleted to eliminate backdoor censorship.”

Taking the theme of censorship further, the Congress said it would amend the Cinematograph Act, 1952 to “provide that the Central Board of Film Certification grants graded certificates to according to transparent and reasonable criteria,” Variety reported.

With Files from NBC News & Variety Magazine