Hundreds of Indians thronged the leafy streets of
New Delhi on Saturday to greet Narendra Modi’s triumphant march into the
capital after he decimated the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty and the ruling Congress
party in the biggest election victory the country has seen in 30 years.
Modi leaned far out of his car, waving a victory
sign to jubliant supporters, in a drive from the airport to the headquarters of
his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the centre of town.
A Hindu nationalist who critics fear will be
divisive and autocratic, Modi toned down religious issues in his pitch to
India’s 815 million voters and won the world’s biggest ever election with
promises of economic development for all.
The three-times chief minister of the western state
of Gujarat is an outsider to Delhi’s power circle. The low-caste son of a tea
stall-owner, his rise to power signals the end of an era dominated by the
descendants of India’s first prime minister, independence hero Jawaharlal
Nehru.
“Four to five generations have been wasted
since 1952, this victory has been achieved after that,” Modi said, in a
jibe at the Nehru-Gandhi family and the Congress it dominates.
Describing himself as a “worker”, he
hailed grass-roots campaigners who showered him with pink rose petals as he
arrived at party headquarters. There he met other party leaders and was
expected to start discussions about forming a cabinet. Modi will not formally
take office until after Tuesday, the party said.
Modi has given India its first parliamentary
majority after 25 years of coalition governments, with his party winning more
than six times the seats garnered by Congress.
With almost all 543 seats declared by Saturday
morning, Modi’s BJP looked set to win 282 seats, 10 more than the majority
required to rule. With its allied parties, it was heading for a comfortable
tally of around 337 – the clearest result since the 1984 assassination of prime
minister Indira Gandhi propelled her son Rajiv to office.
During the campaign Modi was explicit about wanting
to end the dominance of the Nehru-Gandhi family on Indian politics. He may have
achieved the goal, with Congress reduced to just 44 seats, less than half of
its previous worst showing.
Modi’s landslide win gives him ample room to
advance reforms started 23 years ago by current Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
but which have stalled in recent years.
Despite his party’s pasting, 81-year-old Singh was
magnanimous in his final address to the nation on Saturday, wishing the
incoming government success. Later, he tendered his resignation.
“I am confident about the future of
India,” he said in his televised message. “I firmly believe that the
emergence of India as a major powerhouse of the evolving global economy is an
idea whose time has come.”
Unlike Singh and his predecessors, Modi will not
have to deal with unruly partners to implement reform. That could usher in
profound economic changes, with some supporters imagining him as India’s answer
to former British leader Margaret Thatcher.
The desire for change among the youthful electorate
after a slump in economic growth, years of policy drift and a spate of
corruption scandals overrode concerns about a spasm of violence against Muslims
that occurred on his watch in Gujarat 12 years ago, as well as worries his
pro-Hindu leanings would sideline minorities.
In his victory speech on Friday, 63-year-old Modi
struck an inclusive tone, declaring that “the age of divisive politics has
ended – from today onwards the politics of uniting people will begin”.
“No words will be enough to salute the youth of
India. They led from the front in the elections & rose above non-issues
like caste & creed,” Modi wrote on his Twitter page late on Friday.
In Washington, the Obama administration
congratulated Modi, and said he would be granted a visa for US travel. Washington
denied Modi a visa in 2005 over the sectarian riots three years previously in
Gujarat state, where he was chief minister.
Modi is expected to try to replicate his success in
attracting investment and building infrastructure in Gujarat, the state he has
governed for more than 12 years.
Betting on a Modi win, foreign investors have
poured more than $16 billion into Indian stocks and bonds in the past six
months and now hold over 22 percent of Mumbai-listed equities – a stake
estimated by Morgan Stanley at almost $280 billion.
But with India’s economy suffering its worst
slowdown since the 1980s and battling high inflation, it will not be an easy
task to meet the hopes of millions of Indians who have bought into the idea
that Modi will quickly push their country onto the top table of global economic
powers.
His party also lacks strength in the upper house of
parliament, where backing is needed for legislation to pass.
When Indira Gandhi was prime minister it was often
said that she was so dominant that “India is Indira, Indira is
India”. The Economic Times echoed that on Saturday, with a headline:
“India is Modi. Modi is India.”
“Modi’s ability to rise from nothing to
everything has demonstrated that Indians are no longer willing to accept
credentials such as belonging to a dynasty or assertion of past scholarly
accomplishment abroad as a substitute for persuasive argumentation: you have to
perform to command respect,” Jagdish Bhagwati, an eminent Indian-born
economist who has positioned himself to advise the new prime minister, told
Reuters in an email exchange.
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