2024 Elections: Modi Wins BUT India and its Democracy Loses

India went to Lok Sabha Election 2024 with very high pitch campaigns, some of which were constructive but many highly divisive too. Ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) under PM Modi went to the election with very high expectations based on their actual people-oriented works. The numerous laudable pro-people, pro-India programs during 10 yrs of his government has already put India on a track of a solid growth that made India the 5th largest economy from a fragile five in 2014. The govt efforts towards poor elevated >23 Cr above the poverty lines. Hence, riding on the high performance they went to the polls. However, as the poll results indicate, NDA could just secure a narrow majority. After Nehru, Modi will be the only PM to be sworn-in thrice in a row. It is a big achievement for a simple fact that after partition, there was hardly any credible opposition however, today there are many. This has elated a depressed political opposition of the govt as if they won the mandate by restricting the margin of defeat. Final LS seats won by all parties are shown in the table below. It is interesting to note that BJP alone secured more seats than the entire alliance of opposition parties.

The people-centric programs of Modi govt were so many that even BJP-led NDA leaders had difficulty in recounting/recollecting them during their election rallies. Modi has shown a foresight to make India a world leader in many fields at all levels…be it the last citizen in the queue, every family in the societies, every States, the Nation as a whole as well as at the international fora. These are some of the reasons why Modi was so confident of returning to powers in greater numbers (read “What makes Modi so confident of 370+?”, https://thecounterviews.in/articles/what-makes-modi-confident-of-370-parliamentary-election-2024/). However, the sailing through the elections were not smooth. The newly formed alliance of Thugs did create ripples that were not congenial either for democracy or for the nation (read “I-N-D-I-A of Chors & Thugs? Parts 1, 2 & 3”, https://thecounterviews.in/articles/i-n-d-i-a-of-thugs-part-1/; https://thecounterviews.in/articles/i-n-d-i-a-of-thugs-part-2/; and https://thecounterviews.in/articles/i-n-d-i-a-of-thugs-part-3/). The narratives that the Chors & Thugs could create numerous many fake narratives that could influence many citizens, forgetting what the govt had done for them in the 10 yrs. They fell prey to lies, dis-information. divisive politics and false poll-promises that could never have been fulfilled. All these make it so evident how immature Indian democracy is (read “India, a Flawed Democracy”, https://thecounterviews.in/articles/india-and-its-flawed-democracy/). 

Democratic Ills Spilling out of Indian Constitution

India as a nation has been vulnerable to hardships and failure through the indulgence of some of the contemporary hawkish political leaderships right from the days of partition (read “विभाजन विभीषिका (भाग १, २ & ३)’, https://thecounterviews.in/articles/indian-partition-and-indian-religions/, https://thecounterviews.in/articles/partition-of-india-fallout-of/, and https://thecounterviews.in/articles/partition-horrors-india-part-3-no-more/). While various political leaderships have brought the country from the brinks in 1947 to where it stood in 2014, numerous ills too have been introduced. These ills include a hawkish Nehru indulging in Muslim appeasement politics creating an insecurity among the highly tolerant Hindu community. India was pressurized to adopt one of the weakest Constitutions in the world that overtly promotes discrimination on the religious & caste/creed lines. Although the constitution has undergone approx. 105 amendments, it still encourages people to be indulgent in discriminative and anti-national activities. Clearly, it is unable to fulfill the aspirations of the modern times. As such Congress and Communalism have corroded India from within (read “India diseased by 3 cancers”, https://thecounterviews.in/articles/india-diseased-by-three-cancers-the-communalism-congress-and-communism/).

The Constitution of India in its present form suppresses meritorious people and promotes inertia in govt offices. The worst, it makes the majority Hindus highly anxious of their rapidly declining religious demography in the nation due mainly to proliferations of Muslims. The Constitution clearly needs some fundamental amendment or revision that the constituents of I-N-D-I-A don’t want. Therefore, they repeatedly scare the citizen that constitution will be changed by Modi although till now he has not even hinted of it. The divisive politics of new coalition of I.N.D.I.A has scared mostly the illiterate lot with their fake arguments. On the other hand, the SC/ST treat Ambedkar larger than life and his drafted Constitution of India as holy. It is other matter though that Ambedkar himself was unhappy with its final draft. Worse, the opposition generate unfounded fears such as Mr Kharge’s statement, “if Modi comes to power, there will be no more elections”. Sonia Gandhi had earlier fueled a fear that Modi will fragment the nation. Similarly, Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Lallu Yadav, Mamata Banerjee, Akhilesh Yadav etc had their own versions of lies and dis-information pertaining to Modi’s approach to the Constitution that has been misleading voters easily in all elections, in all their respective constituencies. All these are indulged-in because our constitution doesn’t prohibit it. Time has come when all these must be legally stopped.

Ills of Indian Democracy

The author has reasons to believe that voters of India even after 76 yrs of independence and enjoying the fruits of democracy, are ignorant of their rights and responsibilities thus falling prey to lies & dis-information. Despite all nefarious activities indulged, the number of seats won together by the INDI-alliance fell short of those won by BJP alone. This clearly shows that they are no match. Vote share of most of the parties too are abysmal. Among all, BSP was unfortunate that despite getting a vote share more than many others, it could secure no seat. There is a word of caution for the readers that while taking a look at the respective vote share, they must keep in mind that the figure includes the vote share of their alliance partners too, esp the major parties.

Democracy of India also seems to have been defeated because falsehood and false narratives found a significant importance in this election. Undoubtedly, Rahul Gandhi is one of the best political liars in the world. He started founding/manufacturing newer lies and dis-information during his campaigns and Modi was forced to react, cutting short his own electoral tactics. Rahul Gandhi was unstoppable with lies and dis-information alleging Modi govt of misusing constitutional institutions like Election Commission, the CVC/CBI, the Enforcement Directorate and so on. He then started with divisive caste politics, of providing proportional representative in govt jobs, promotions and so on. Muslim appeasement politics even figured in Congress manifesto…and all these allegations being repeated by 26-mouths of I-N-D-I-A on daily basis finding echoing prominent voices of the likes of Rahul/Sonia Gandhi, Lalu, Mamata, Akhilesh, Tejaswi, Kejriwal, Bhagwant Mann, Farukh/Omar Abdullas, Mehbooba, Stalin, Siddaramaiah, Owaisi, Karats and so on. Obviously, Modi alone as a strategist could not manage it well, unable to counter their false narratives. 

Religious Polarisation of Votes

Traditionally, all pseudo-secular political parties have been frightening the Muslims of India against BJP (read “We the People and Pseudo-seculars in India”, https://thecounterviews.in/articles/we-the-people-pseudo-seculars-of-india/). Nehru, Indira and Rajiv Gandhi did it in a bit different way but Sonia Gandhi during UPA days indulged blatantly through baseless fear psychosis. In later days, RJD, SP, TMC and BSP also started indulging. The former two came to be known as Muslim-Yadav (M-Y) vote-bank alliance. It is evident that Muslims have succumbed to vote-bank politics of SP in UP, TMC in Bengal and CPI in Kerala. On the other hand, Congress and I-N-D-I-A block have effectively been scaring OBCs, SC & ST against BJP in almost all elections with baseless allegations. The truth is otherwise though. It has been Congress that has traditionally kept them impoverished for decades of their rules. 

On the other hand, BJP also tried to garner support of Hindus through various narratives BUT there is no vote-bank among Hindus. They are as divided today as they were in medieval times that enabled Muslims to invade India and commit heinous crimes. Despite the shortcoming among Hindus, BJP has also been trying to polarize votes…be it on Ayodhya issue in past, Ram mandir now or the changing religious demography by Muslims towards “Gazva-e-Hind” or the crores of illegal Muslim migrants. In 2024 election, hardly any vote of polarization became useful for BJP. Muslims seldom vote for BJP. There were expectations that Modi may commit of liberation of Krishna Janmabhoomi or a highly emotive “Hindu-Rashtra incl all Indian Religions” in BJP manifesto BUT that didn’t happen. It is worth knowing that some homework had already been done by Baba Bageshwar Dham BUT Modi refused to budge. Modi also refused to commit expulsion of illegal Bangladeshi and Rohingya Muslims draining our national resources.

Complacent BJP in 2024 Election ?

The respective political parties will analyse their own shortcomings in not being able to achieve their objectives BUT…to this editor of limited electoral experience, the following appear the significant factors in BJP led NDA unable to achieve the figures of 400:-

• An overconfident Modi having given a call of “is bar-400 par” made many of its own voters to skip voting for various reasons, high temp being one.
• Modi 2.0 has sidelined many of the meritorious parliamentarians, managing with several mediocre.
• Despite launching awareness campaigns convey voters of its achievements, numerous many voters did not know the good works done by NDA.
• Numerous many voters started believing the lies & dis-information of I-N-D-I-A repeated from their 26-mouthed alliance partners.
• BJP’s booth-level management was complacent, ignored voters.
• BJP’s Media-cell could not counter the dis-information campaigns of I-N-D-I-A indulging from hundreds of their social media handles.
• Many BJP workers were reluctant to walk extra-mile for the fear of their lives by the opposition goons knowing well that their own party will not stand by their sides (read “Political Intolerance against BJP Workers”, https://thecounterviews.in/articles/political-intolerance-against-bjp-workers-weakness-of-jp-nadda/).
• Law & Order agencies of Modi govt and his own party lawyers unable to counter major lies & dis-information by the opposition.
• Congress, Communist and AAP maneuvering the Farmers agitation effectively against BJP and the govt.
• Isolated instances of BJP leader’s inappropriate statements or acts, later used as propaganda against BJP.
• Muslims voted en-masse against BJP incl bogus and fake identities. Burqa was helpful in it. Muslims remained united in voting whether in Bengal, Bihar, UP, Rajasthan or Kerala. BJP lost major seats in these states.
• BJP was perhaps a bit casual in accepting corrupt leaders of other parties esp Ajit Pawar and some others.
• Despite a massive self-employment scheme with ~35 Cr beneficiaries, Modi govt was reluctant for some reason to launch a gamechanger program of giving employments (read “Employments to all Indians”, https://thecounterviews.in/articles/employment-for-all-indians-a-possibility/). I-N-D-I-A block utilized it the most in setting own narrative.
• Modi govt failed to show an intent in correcting the fast-changing religious demography of India. Some direction could have given to the wind created by Baba Bageshwar (read https://thecounterviews.in/articles/hindu-rashtra-constitution-bageshwar/; and https://thecounterviews.in/articles/if-world-can-have-islamic-christian-nations-why-not-hindu-rashtra/).
• Post-poll insecurity in Bengal and Kerala prohibited Hindu BJP voters from voting. Numerous cases of violence by the goons of ruling party went unnoticed.

Initially, I-N-D-I-A block didn’t have their own agenda for Lok Sabha election 2024. They were overconcentrated on defeating Modi Govt at any cost. As the campaigns progressed, Rahul Gandhi and some others kept fabricating false agendas, lies and dis-information to which the block of allies kept supporting. Looking back, it appears that if the constituents of I-N-D-I-A had approached the election with confidence, Modi govt could have been defeated despite having done phenomenal works in their 10 yrs. This was possibly a missed opportunity for the opposition.

Their party manifestos tried to commit several ‘Poll Promises, many impractical’ and tried to copy “Modi’s Guaranties” but lacked credibility amongst voters. Indian voters have burnt their hands in past with several #Pappu_Poll_Promisesthat fell flat in almost all states. They no longer trust Congress or I-N-D-I-A block. Social media depicted very poorly the past unfulfilled guaranties by Congress. Even in their present manifesto, several financial/cash promises are impractical. People observed that similar promises were made by Congress in several states but not fulfilled.

Concluding Thoughts

The preliminary analysis of the Parliamentary elections 2024 gives a mandate to the NDA. Modi govt went to the general elections possibly with some over-confidence as described above. Despite phenomenal works done for the nation and the nationals (incl poor and downtrodden) and massive progresses in all areas, the govt could not counter the false narratives propagated by all constituents of opposition block. Rahul Gandhi must be complimented for becoming the architect-in-chief in creating numerous lies & dis-information almost on daily basis and making Modi to react. It is also believed that BJP’s own voters didn’t go for voting for varied reasons mentioned above. Since Modi was the face of the NDA getting the majority in the election, the voters believed in Modi’s guaranties. Modi will take oath for 3rdtime in continuum with pre-poll allies. 

It appears India is not a matured democracy as yet, with numerous many illiterate voters succumbing to the false narratives, unfair means and so on. In this election, the opposition alliance has freely used the loopholes of Indian democracy in narrowing the lead that NDA could have had.