On 4 June 2024, like crores of Indians, I was also upset that NDA couldn’t cross 400 as that was a high milestone that everyone had in their minds due to very high expectations set. After a few days now, the realization has dawned on everyone that Narendra Modi is doing a hattrick by again forming the government and is set to become the Prime Minister of India for a historic third consecutive term which has happened only once earlier in history of independent India. This is no mean feat, and one has to give it to this great leader, Narendra Damodardas Modi, who led from the front and won the war albeit with a few setbacks in some regional battles with some wily enemies who did not care about the rules of the battlefield and BJP was caught off-guard and couldn’t counter well promptly. As they say, Jo jeeta wohi Sikandar! As the dust settled, it was clear Modi still has emerged the winner leaving the opposition clueless as to what to do next as they couldn’t stop him from forming the government even after using whatever cards they had up their sleeves.
In one way, the results of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections are a blessing in disguise for the BJP and have given them the opportunity to introspect, understand their fault lines and mistakes committed, clean out some pests within, re-unite with some estranged friends and well-wishers, plan better to counter the opposition forces which has exposed everything that they could do and how, understand how some disillusioned segments of society can be taken back into their fold to create a strong consolidation and come back really hard in 2029 to completely rout the opposition, winning every single regional battle on the way.
Let us briefly delve into some key causes of setbacks the BJP saw in this election. Clearly, they lost the plot in UP, Maharashtra, and West Bengal. Internal politics in UP, not understanding the public sentiments well around their breaking parties and allying with some visibly corrupt individuals in Maharashtra, losing the ground connect with public at large in West Bengal and not being able to project a much stronger image than the ruling party there and finally, alienating in some ways their long-time friends on the ground, the RSS, and being a bit overconfident based on past success have all resulted in some dents in their armory which have to be repaired immediately. Another very important area of improvement is to develop a foolproof sound mechanism to counter fake narratives that the opposition peddled and will continue to peddle. I am sure Modi, and his close lieutenants are already working on all of these.
Once Modi 3.0 starts, there are a few areas where Narendra Modi has to focus immediately. In order to reassure the public, he has to take immediate legal measures against some very key political figures in the opposition party who have been out on bail for several years now. It is understandable that for some political reasons, the BJP had gone slow on them but enough is enough now. It is definitely not going to be easy as there will be a lot of Western interventions to save them, but it is time this is done as they have started damaging the society now and Modi can’t take them lightly anymore. There have to be big outreach programs for the Dalits and backward classes albeit some of them might sound populist which is totally fine. Modi must further strengthen the hands of trustworthy local leaders like Yogi Adityanath in UP, K. Annamalai in TN, and Devendra Fadnavis in Maharashtra which will shut down the internal malicious forces working against them.
A bit of decentralization will help with more nimble decision-making. Having been brought up in Kolkata, I strongly believe that the BJP needs a home-grown strong Bengali CM face like an Annamalai to lead there. A strong social media regulation should be brought under which handles spreading fake and anti-India narratives should be booked immediately. Electoral reforms must be done which provide for politicians found giving money and people found taking money for votes to be booked. A big outreach should be done to that segment of Hindus who felt that Modi was doing soft Hindutva and didn’t stand strong for the Hindu cause, especially in cases where Hindu sentiments got hurt. The secularism narrative should not be seen to be deterring the BJP from taking fair steps anymore. Apprehension of Western media narratives shouldn’t seem to make Modi’s BJP hesitant.
The BJP communication apparatus must be doubly strengthened in order to counter opposition narratives and set impactful ones to help the BJP not look reactive but proactive at all times. Finally, succession planning is a big focus area, if not a burning one like others above, for Modi as grooming his successor has to happen in parallel for him to hand over the baton to safe and strong hands whenever he plans to move on. All these have to be done apart from the current very good government initiatives which have to be continued with same vigour with enhanced focus on unemployment and rural distress.
The recent Lok Sabha elections have added more work for Narendra Modi and his BJP which I think they will happily take on and aggressively complete with double the rigor and passion than the last 10 years. I strongly feel that Narendra Damodardas Modi who the opposition felt was dangerous for their existence will be more dangerous for them than ever in the next five years leading up to the 2029 Lok Sabha elections which will see 400 paar actually happening and some opposition forces totally getting routed if all the right steps and measures are taken on time, aggressively and effectively. Jai Hind!!
Ananth Mahadevan is a political commentator based in Bengaluru.
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