Narendra Modi He led the nation successfully for a decade. He has made himself a very prominent face in the minds of a large section of people and the media.
People were hoping that he would return in his third election too with a majority surpassing the previous tallies of 2014 and 2019. The mantra of over 400 Lok Sabha constituencies was chanted again and again.
It may have seemed true to his followers and the media, as the Prime Minister addressed daily rallies across the nation, proclaiming that he was no ordinary biological being.
After all, who was there in the opposition to match his talent? Which party was wealthier, more organized and more publicized? Accounts of major opposition parties were frozen and two opposition state chief ministers were arrested.
The post-election polls gave the NDA a landslide victory. Some even predicted it would touch 400. Among the moderates and the opposition, this created an air of distrust.
Concerns about the continuation of autocracy and the spread of communalism were evident. Thus, the results are breathtaking. BJP is still the largest party. But it won only 240 seats.
It fell short of 272 seats. The opposition India Alliance got 235 seats. Congress alone has touched 99. It has an impressive performance against the odds.
Modi will still become Prime Minister with the help of N Chandrababu Naidu of Telugu Desam Party, who is currently the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, and Nitish Kumar of JDU from Bihar. But it appears that one-party dominance is over.
Both Naidu and Kumar are shrewd politicians and will undoubtedly demand their flesh. How did this come about? It is clear that the determination of the opposition All India, especially Congress president Rahul Gandhi — once disqualified as an MP and reinstated after the Supreme Court’s intervention — faces an uphill task.
But his two Bharat Jodo Yatras that took him across the country endeared him to the masses and created a bond.
Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu on this trip M. G. Stalin The role played is enormous. Stalin has always expressed his unwavering faith in Rahul Gandhi.
In fact, during the last 2019 elections, he proposed Gandhi’s name as the Prime Ministerial candidate. This time too, Stalin showed great maturity by keeping the opposition’s program of saving democracy, secularism and the Constitution as the main theme of the Congress manifesto.
Stalin proved to be a great ally for the Indian team, urging them to stand together to stop the BJP’s clamor. His general election campaigns were incredibly popular, emphasizing inclusive politics and speaking like a national leader with the slogan Nalpadum Namate, Nadum Namate (40 people namate, desam namate). Stalin was gracious in allocating seats to his allies. DMK contested only 21 seats. It gave 10 seats to the Congress and the rest to the Left and Dalit parties.
It was a clean sweep. The AIADMK, which pulled out of the BJP alliance with its main rival, thanked BJP state president K. Annamalai for disparaging their mentor CN Annadurai and Jayalalithaa and joined the party of actor Vijayakanth in the DMK. But DMK They did not win this election because they had no agenda other than attacking .
However, they have a substantial vote base and cannot be written off. BJP has presented itself as the future ruler of Tamil Nadu.
Its state president Annamalai lost in Coimbatore by a margin of over one lakh votes. But it must be said that the BJP has increased its vote share from 3 percent to 10 percent.
The Dravidian parties which have dominated Tamil Nadu since 1967 is something to watch out for. In 2022, Rahul Gandhi made a compelling statement to the BJP in Parliament, stressing the importance of cooperative federalism.
You cannot rule Tamil Nadu for the rest of your life!”Modi tried his best to win the hearts of Tamils but failed because he did not understand the Tamil ethos.
He miscalculated his Hindutva agenda to persuade voters in Tamil Nadu. Tamils are culturally religious, but historically secular.
There is an interesting legend associated with Sri Ranganatha, the deity of the Srirangam temple, which states that there was a Muslim woman who was a devotee of the Lord.
She is a favorite of the deity and has a shrine in the temple dedicated to her. A daily ritual is followed when the deity visits the shrine to meet his tulka nachiyar (Muslim woman). Bread and sabji (vegetables) are offered to her.
