Like it or not, we are in “New India”. Narendra Modi has successfully marketed Hindutva and converted the poorest segments of Indian society. How else does one explain the comfortable victory of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Goa? There was no reason for the BJP to win, particularly in UP. An unprecedented economic crisis, unemployment and deaths due to the Covid pandemic should ordinarily have led to the fall of the Yogi government. But election results have belied political pundits and the Yogi government has returned to power. How does one explain this political phenomenon? It was Hindutva coupled with freebies like the free foodgrains that apparently went in favour of the BJP. There was no reason for the BJP to win in Uttarakhand and Goa either, with strong currents of anti-incumbency in both the states. The long and short of the election results is that Hindutva is kicking and alive and Narendra Modi continues to rule the hearts of many, if not most, Indians. There is not much time left for the opposition parties to put their act together before the next Lok Sabha election in 2024. The opposition is undoubtedly in disarray. The election results must have further demoralised their rank and file. But political parties striving to reclaim India from communal politics cannot afford to spend time finding faults with one another. When we talk of the opposition, it becomes the primary responsibility of the Congress to lead the opposition. Despite reservations that many may have with the grand old party, the fact remains that one still cannot imagine a national alternative without the Congress.
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