My Opinion

Violent clashes between BJP and Trinamool Congress supporters have been taking place in West Bengal with frightening regularity both during and after the Lok Sabha elections. After the killing of three BJP and one TMC supporters in a bloody clash in Basirhat, there have been more such clashes in other districts. Last night in Mathabhanga, Coochbehar, motorbikes of BJP supporters were set on fire after a local TMC leader was attacked.

West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi met Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi on Monday to apprise him about the current situation. There have been demands from BJP circles to impose Central rule in the state, but the Centre is unwilling to allow Mamata Banerjee to gain any political advantage.

In Aaj Ki Baat show on Monday night, we telecasted detailed stories of how villages and localities, where voters gave their votes to Modi, are being targeted by TMC activists. The ruling party in the state is out to teach a lesson and strike terror in the minds of those voters who have leanings towards the BJP. This is being done in view of the assembly elections that will take place in 2022.

Clearly, Mamata Banerjee has learnt this political style from the Left Front, whose supporters used to target TMC activists during the Left rule. Mamata Banerjee had then demanded Central rule, but when the then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee refused to oblige, she resigned from the NDA government. Five years later, the people of Bengal themselves voted the Left out of power and handed over the baton to Mamata’s party.

In a cruel irony of fate, the same Mamata Banerjee is now using the violent methods against the BJP, after the latter won 18 Lok Sabha seats last month. Naturally, the TMC supremo is fearing the same fate that had befallen the Left Front. Mamata and her party men may try their utmost to muzzle the voice of the people, but it is the people who are the ultimate arbiters.

Mamata Banerjee should know that silence of the majority does not mean weakness. It will be a terrible political blunder. As far as imposing President’s Rule is concerned, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is never going to do this. Modi is an astute politician and he will never give Mamata a handle to beat the Centre with.

Moreover, the opposition parties in India, who have been badly defeated at the hustings, will get a fresh breath if President’s Rule is imposed in Bengal. This can provide an opportunity to the opposition parties to unite. Modi is not going to oblige by giving any such chance either to Mamata or to the opposition parties.

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The brutal and inhuman murder of a two and a half year old girl in Aligarh, UP, has caused tremendous outrage across India. Top politicians and Bollywood celebrities have also condemned this ghastly killing and have demanded deterrent punishment for the perpetrators of this heinous crime.

The girl went missing from Tappal near Aligarh on May 31 and two days later, her mutilated body was found in a garbage dump in Aligarh. Two persons, Zahid and Aslam, have been arrested, and after there was widespread outrage on social media, five policemen have been suspended and a Special Investigation Team has been formed to probe the murder. Till now, the post mortem report has not indicated any sign of sexual assault, but the horrendous manner in which this act was perpetrated is highly deplorable.

I do not have words to express my feeling over this cruel murder. How could the accused murder and mutilate the body of a toddler in this manner? They do not deserve to be called human beings, and they must have no right to live in society. The case must be taken up by a fast track court and they should be convicted and given the death sentence at the earliest.

In 2012, there was nationwide outrage over the manner in which a young woman (Nirbhaya) was sexually assaulted inside a bus, her private parts were mutilated and she was thrown out on the road. She battled for life and ultimately died.

Thousands of people came out on the roads of Delhi to express their anger. Law on sexual assault was completely changed and deterrent punishment was prescribed, but it is sad to note that the convicts in Nirbhaya case are still alive in Delhi’s Tihar Jail and they have not been executed.

This week, Nirbhaya’s parents pleaded before the Delhi High Court that the the process of executing the death sentence be speeded up, because the convicts have been trying to gain time through mercy petitions to avoid the gallows. This must not happen in the case of the toddler’s murder in Aligarh.

I want to raise one more issue. On social media, several individuals have circulated inflammatory messages comparing the Aligarh murder with the heinous rape and murder of a girl in Kathua near Jammu. Attempts have been made to give a communal angle to this incident.

Rape and murder are acts that are perpetrated by criminals, who have nothing to do with religion. The murderers and rapists must get exemplary punishment, but those who are circulating messages on social media by using the victim’s picture and naming the perpetrators are equally guilty of inciting people and causing social disharmony.

The government must identify such people and action must be taken against them. Inciting people in the name of religion and injecting communal poison in a civil society is a crime.

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In fast-paced developments in Punjab, Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Thursday stripped Navjot Singh Sidhu of Local Government and Tourism and Cultural Affairs portfolios and assigned him Power and New and Renewable Energy Sources portfolio. Earlier in the day, Sidhu did not attend the cabinet meeting presided over by the CM, and instead went live on social media airing his grievances.

The Chief Minister had earlier alleged that Sidhu’s ‘inept handling’ of the crucial Local Government department resulted in poor Lok Sabha election results for the Congress from urban areas of Punjab.

Countering this, Sidhu replied that he was “being singled out publicly” by the CM. Sidhu claimed that his party fared better in two LS seats that he was entrusted with. Sidhu said, “I always regard him (Capt Amarinder) as my elder. I always listen to him, but it hurts. Where is the collective responsibility? He could have called me and said anything he would have wanted to say. But I was singled out in spite of collective responsibility.”

“I cannot be taken for granted. I have been a performer throughout during 40 years of my life, be it international cricket, or world class commentary with Geoffrey Boycott, TV shows or 1,300 motivational talks,” Sidhu said, adding that he would defend his name, credibility and performance “fiercely”.

I am mentioning all these in detail because I want to say that Sidhu has never been loyal to any body. He has this habit of ditching those who helped him in life. The BJP gave him the utmost respect, and yet he ditched the party. Sidhu is now doing the same to the Congress leadership in Punjab.

It was the BJP which made Sidhu a ‘neta’ (political leader) and he became Lok Sabha member thrice. He was later made member of Rajya Sabha and his wife was made a minister in Punjab. But SIdhu was not content with this. He left the BJP for greener pastures and joined the Congress.

Capt Amarinder Singh was large hearted in accomodating him as a minister in his cabinet and Sidhu was given portfolios of his choice. But Sidhu had his eyes on the Chief Minister’s chair. He was being given prominence in the party by Congress president Rahul Gandhi. With the party high command behind him, Sidhu publicly made remarks against Capt Amarinder Singh.

The Chief Minister complained to Rahul Gandhi several times, but each time it was Rahul who shielded Sidhu. The latter campaigned for his party president in Amethi, and yet Rahul lost the election. On the other hand, Punjab was the only north Indian state, where the Congress managed to save its seats, and credit for this goes to Capt. Amarinder Singh.

The situation was ripe for the Captain to sack Sidhu, but he was large hearted enough not to sack him, and instead changed his portfolio. Sidhu should be thankful to the Captain for this, but it is not in his nature to thank those who helped him in life.
Sidhu has never listened to his Captain, whether in cricket or in politics. He has always played his own game, and he never cared for the team.

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On Eid ul-Fitr day, addressing a congregation of devout Muslims who had performed namaaz on Red Road in Kolkata, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee made a high-decibel political speech. In a thinly veiled warning for BJP, Mamata Banerjee said, “Jo humse takrayega, choor choor ho jayega”.

The Trinamool Congress chief told Muslims to stay united “so that we can fight for you”. She told West Bengal Muslims: “There is nothing to be scared of. …Don’t be scared, the faster they captured EVMs, the sooner they will go away”.

In her typical style, Banerjee said: “Tyaag ka naam hai Hindu, Imaan ka naam hai Musalman, Pyar ka naam hai Isai, Sikh ka naam hai balidaan. Ye hai hamara pyaara Hindustan. Jo humse takrayega choor choor ho jayega. Ye hamara slogan hai.”

I am surprised over Mamata Banerjee’s reactions since the time Lok Sabha election results have come. She seems to be unable to digest BJP hiking up its tally from two to 18 out of 42 Lok Sabha seats in her state.

Mamata Banerjee is an experienced politician and she knows West Bengal politics like the back of her hand. She correctly understands the pulse of the Bengali bhadralok. Yet, at a religious festival like Eid, she pours out her hate for her political rivals. She tries to strike fear in the mind of Bengali Muslims in the name of BJP, and openly speaks out about fighting for Muslims.

This is symptomatic of the depression that Mamata might have been facing since the LS results came out. She is running the government in West Bengal and has concentrated all the power in her hands. How can it be that others can come and threaten Muslims in Bengal?

I agree with Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, when he said that “Mamata is neither worried about Muslims, nor Hindus, the only thing she worries about is her chair.” This, in a sentence, sums up the situation in which Mamata Banerjee finds herself at this moment.

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On Tuesday, the new Home Minister Amit Shah was given a detailed presentation on Jammu and Kashmir by the Home Ministry officials. Among the many plans of BJP for J&K is the move to set up a Delimitation Commission to determine the number of assembly seats for all the three divisions – Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh.

The BJP had promised in its 2019 Lok Sabha election manifesto that it would work for abrogating Article 370 of the Constitution that gives special powers to J&K, and annulling Article 35A that gives special rights to the people of Kashmir valley. The BJP wants more seats for the Jammu region through the delimitation process. It wants to “correct disparities” with Jammu region and provide representation to all reserved categories.

The Farooq Abdullah government had amended the state consitution in 2002 freezing delimitation of seats till the first census after 2026. Legal experts say that the J&K Governor has powers to strike down the amendment, provided it is ratified by Parliament within six months .

Out of the 87 assembly seats in J&K, seven are reserved for schedule castes, all in Jammu valley, as there are no persons belonging to SC in the Kashmir valley. These reserved seats have not been rotated since 1996. In the state assembly, Kashmir valley dominates with 46 seats, Jammu region with 37 and Ladakh has four assembly seats.

The move for delimitation has drawn strong reactions, as expected, from political leaders in the Kashmir valley. JKPDP chief and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah have opposed the move to remove the freeze on delimitation.

Those criticizing the move should note that the delimitation work cannot be done within two months. On Tuesday, the Election Commission of India indicated that it would decide on dates of state assembly elections after the Amarnath Yatra is over in August. If assembly polls are held in October, delimitation work cannot be completed by that time.

The delimitation process involves preparation of a report, setting up of a commission, submission of report by that commission, and then Parliament will have to approve that report. Following this, the Governor will have to annul the amendment made by Farooq Abdullah government putting a freeze on delimitation till 2026. All these will take time.

Naturally, the assembly elections later this year in J&K will be conducted within the current framework. The Centre will, of course, try to speed up the delimitation work, but it would be politically incorrect to level the charge that a move is afoot to install a Hindu chief minister in J&K. Political leaders should avoid making loose remarks on such critical issues.

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On Monday, Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati hinted at a review meeting with party functionaries that her alliance (Mahagathbandhan) with Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal was almost over, though she did not say this in so many words. According to leaders present at the meeting, Mayawati asked her party leaders to prepare to fight byelections for 11 assembly seats on their own.

The BSP supremo, according to sources, said at the meeting that Akhilesh Yadav could not even win his family seats, and his wife and cousins lost the elections. She reportedly said, the SP failed to transfer Yadav votes to her party candidates, while Ajit Singh failed to transfer Jat community votes to her party. Mayawati reportedly said at the meeting that though she would not be announcing the end of Mahagathbandhan now, yet the party should prepare to fight the 11 assembly byelections on its own.

Mayawati may be right when she says that she finds no point in continuing with the alliance. In politics, a party gains clout only at the expense of the other. Her party had drawn a blank in 2014 LS elections, while this time it has won 10 LS seats. So, it would be incorrect on her part to say that the BSP did not benefit from the alliance. She could have said that her party did not win as many seats as it had hoped.

In my view, neither Akhilesh Yadav nor Mayawati are wrong. Both these two top leaders sat together and worked out poll arithmetic by adding the vote shares of their respective parties based on caste. But the ground reality in 2019 in UP was different. Voters had shunned caste based vote bank politics, and were openly rooting for Narendra Modi. Both Akhilesh and Mayawati misjudged this by saying that this was only a fake atmosphere being created by TV news channels.

Akhilesh is young and he lacks experience. I hope after this electoral drubbing he must have realized his mistakes. When Akhilesh suddenly announced the alliance with Mayawati at the beginning of election campaign, his father Mulayam Singh Yadav had then remarked that Akhilesh was inexperienced since he has given life to ” a dead elephant “.

Mulayam Singh’s words proved true. Family members of the Yadav clan lost the elections, SP lost much of its vote share and it was Mayawati’s party which upped its tally from zero to ten.

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On Thursday evening, when I witnessed the swearing-in ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan, I realized that history has taken a new turn as far as cabinet formation at the Centre is concerned.

Gone were the days of hectic lobbying to become ministers.New MPs used to take the help of industrialists, senior leaders and even journalists to get plum posts.Not a single MP or minister lobbied this time for plum posts, nor did anybody try to push forward recommendations. Not a single person present at the swearing-in ceremony, except of course the PM, knew who was going to get which portfolio.

I had been closely observing politics for the last 45 years, but I never witnessed such suspense. Most of the speculations about portfolios were later found to be incorrect.

The ground reality is: lobbyists in the corridors of power in Delhi have now become unemployed, thanks to a single man, Modi. The real credit, however, goes to the voters of India who gave Modi a massive mandate as a strong Prime Minister. The results will be there for all to see in the coming five years.

The biggest surprise was the induction of S. Jayashankar, former Foreign Secretary, as India’s External Affairs Minister. Modi had appreciated Jayashankar’s work as foreign secretary, when he used to accompany him on foreign visits to meet world leaders like Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping. Modi has appointed him EAM because he works quietly, thinks out of the box and is a great strategist. India has big trade issues coming up with the US and India under Modi has to forge strong relations with the US, China, Russia, Japan and other powers. Since Modi is already in the elite group of world leaders, he needs men like Jayashankar to assist him in matters relating to world affairs. If India is to become a world power, it needs strategists and diplomats of the calibre of Jayashankar.

Those who think that Nirmala Sitharaman as Finance Minister will prove to be a poor substitute to Arun Jaitley are going to be proved wrong. They do not know much about her calibre. She took charge of Defence portfolio, and performed with aplomb. She replied to Rahul Gandhi’s charges on Rafale deal in Parliament with conviction. She had good counselling from Arun Jaitley during this period.

As far as Finance ministry is concerned, she had already held the Commerce and Corporate Affairs portfolios in the past. You may recollect that Arun Jaitley, who is presently recovering from treatment, had written to the Prime Minister, offering help to the party and government, even while being confined to his home. At the swearing-in ceremony, I was told by many that they sorely feel the absence of Jaitley, but I know he is not a person to sit idle at home. Even if doctors advise him to take complete rest, he is surely going to remain active, and Nirmala Sitharaman should have nothing to worry about.

About other ministers, I can only say that Modi is a man who always tries new experiments, has new ideas and gives chances to new persons to take up new challenges. Normally big leaders do not take such risks, but Modi is totally different. Modi assigns work to those ministers whom he believes they can perform. There were expectations that Modi would give chance to more MPs from Bengal to become ministers, but since most of them are first time MPs, he wants them to understand the working of the system in Lutyens zone first.

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The stage is set for the swearing-in ceremony of Narendra Modi’s new government at Rashtrapati Bhavan today. It will be attended by nearly 8,000 guests, including heads of state and governments of BIMSTEC countries and from Kyrgyzstan and Mauritius. Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia Gandhi will be among leaders who will attend the event.

Missing from the scene will be outgoing Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who is fighting a battle over health issues. On Wednesday, Jaitley wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressing his inability to join the new government because of health reasons. In his letter, Jaitley wrote that “I need a reasonable time for myself, my treatment and my health”. Jaitley also wrote that “I would obviously have a lot of time at my disposal to undertake any work informally to support the government and the party”.

Jaitley has been advised by doctors to avoid post-surgery infections and restrict his meetings with outsiders to the barest minimum. He had undergone kidney transplant last year and has been under treatment since then.

On Wednesday night, when senior BJP leaders and government functionaries were busy preparing the list of ministers, Prime Minister Modi went to meet Jaitley at the latter’s residence. The Prime Minister has been very much concerned about Jaitley’s health. He wants his colleague to recover fast so that he can work for the party and government at the earliest.

I have known Jaitley since my student days. He has the will power and determination to fight illness. Even when he was unwell during the election campaign, he worked for the party with full vigour. I believe Jaitley will not stay away from politics for long. He will recover soon and play an active role in politics.

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Three developments took place in West Bengal on Tuesday – one, 2 Trinamool MLAs and 56 TMC councillors joined the BJP in Delhi in the presence of central leaders, two, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee sacked two of her ministers and elevated some others, and three, Mamata announced that she would attend Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s swearing-in ceremony on Thursday.

This was the very same Mamata, who had angrily said this month during the election campaign that she does not recognize Narendra Modi as Prime Minister. On Tuesday, she said, she had spoken to other chief ministers, and since they were attending, she has also decided to attend the swearing-in ceremony.

The entry of 2 TMC MLAs and 56 councillors in BJP signifies that all is not well inside the ruling party in Bengal. BJP has already expanded its base in rural areas, and the TMC is now mostly confined to urban and semi-urban areas. Municipal body elections are due next year and the TMC is worried. If the BJP makes handsome gains in municipal elections, it will have a cascading effect on state assembly polls due in 2021. Naturally, Mamata is now busy doing damage control.

On Tuesday, she sacked two of her ministers and elevated the portfolios of some other ministers, because she suspects some may cross over to BJP. During 2014 Lok Sabha elections, TMC had won 34 parliamentary seats. Her party was leading in 258 out of a total of 294 assembly segments. BJP had then won only 2 LS seats, and had led in 28 assembly segments. This time, BJP has won 18 parliamentary seats, and was leading in 128 assembly segments. Clearly a gain of 100 assembly segments. That is why, Mamata is now in damage control mode, because the exodus has just begun.

The most satisfying thing is that all the 12 chief ministers of non-BJP ruled states have been invited to the swearing-in ceremony in Delhi. Since the elections are over, abusive rhetoric against Modi are now passe, and the presence of Opposition chief ministers at the oathtaking ceremony will be a good augury for Modi 2.0 government. Constitutional bodies and parliamentary traditions should be held in high esteem. it remains to be seen how many opposition CMs will attend.

Reports of post-poll violence are still coming from West Bengal. Such violent incidents bring West Bengal a bad name. We hope the state police will ensure that such incidents are not repeated.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided to invite leaders of BIMSTEC countries, like Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Thailand and Sri Lanka, and also leaders of Kyrgyzstan and Mauritius to attend his swearing-in ceremony on Thursday at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

This is in line with Modi government’s focus on Neighbourhood First policy. Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has not been invited. In 2014, Modi had invited leaders of all SAARC countries, and the then Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif had attended his swearing-in ceremony.

Modi has also lined up foreign visits, first to Maldives, and then to Bishkek to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization meet next month. This will be followed by his visit to Osaka, Japan to attend the G20 summit in the last week of June.

Modi had finalized his foreign visit plans even when he was busy during the election campaign in April and May. This shows the level of confidence Modi had about his impending landslide victory, even before the results were out.

Foreign heads of state were also confident about Modi’s victory in the general elections in India. US President Donald Trump exuded confidence when he spoke to Modi and then tweeted: “Just spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi where I congratulated him on his big political victory. He is a great man and leader for the people of India – they are lucky to have him!” This reaction sums up the level of personal relationship between these two world leaders.
Modi had been saying at his election rallies that a strong government at the Centre gives a big boost to India’s standing in the comity of nations. The world then eyes India with respect, and it gives the Indian Prime Minister the power to deal with world leaders from a position of strength.
You may remember Modi had told me in his interview that when the prime minister of India gets the support of 130 crore Indians, he communicates with world leaders effectively. ‘We can discuss issues with them by looking them straight in the eye, and not by keeping our eyes lowered or keeping them upwards.” To sum up, this landslide win for Modi augurs well for the people and government of India.

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Normally people know days in advance whenever a severe cyclone takes place. But in the case of a tsunami, it is the opposite. A tsunami takes place when there is a high intensity earthquake on the deep ocean floor, and the water level on the sea shores rises gradually, which suddenly takes the shape of a huge tsunami that washes away everything in its wake, even before people can react and run to safety.

The Lok Sabha election, unlike the 2014 one, had the markings of a tsunami. There was a strong undercurrent among voters in favour of Modi, spread from Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, MP and Delhi in the north to Bihar, West Bengal, Assam and Odisha in the east, and right up to Maharashtra, Gujarat and Karnataka in the West and South.

The entire election campaign this time centered around Modi – his image and his performance. Modi was ruling the hearts of millions of voters. His landmark schemes like toilets, LPG cylinders and houses for the poor, loan for the lower middle class traders, had a tremendous effect. Even if we assume that 12 crore lower middle class and poor families got the synchronic benefits of all these schemes put together, it amounted to a huge voter base for Modi.

Added to this were the first time voters, who normally keep their connect with the outside world mostly through internet. A tech savvy PM like Modi knew the effect of PUBG and Avengers on these teenage voters, and he mentioned this too in his speeches.

Also, senior opposition leaders like Rahul Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav, Tejashwi Yadav and Mamata Banerjee hurling abuses at Modi had a big negative effect. The voters remained silent and taught these leaders a lesson for making fun of Modi building toilets and describing him as “Chowkidar Chor Hai”.

Opposition leaders failed to gauge the mind of Prime Minister Modi, just as Pakistan army failed to anticipate an air strike. Modi told me in his interview, how Pakistan army had amassed tanks and missiles on the border anticipating a surgical strike on land, and how our air force pilots crossed over from air “in the name of Bajrangbali” and strafed the terrorist hideout in Balakot, deep inside Pakistan. Similarly, opposition leaders too failed to read Modi’s engimatic mind and could not gauge which direction he would take during the poll campaign.

Leaders like Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati buried their 25-year-old enmity and joined hands to give Modi a fight. Similarly, Congress and JD(S) joined hands in Karnataka, and were deeply ensconced in the belief that mere alliance will give them the desired gains. It was Amit Shah who told me in an interview that eight crore poor people in UP got the benefits of Modi’s welfare schemes, and this amounted to a hike of seven per cent in voting percentage terms in favour of BJP. In Karnataka, the Congress and JD(S) were practically washed away, and they had to be content with only two seats.

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India on Thursday gave a resounding mandate to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party for another second term in power, cutting across deep fault lines of caste, religion, family loyalties and class drawn over several decades. The BJP won 303 LS seats and the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance won 352 seats in the Lok Sabha.

The main opposition party Congress faced a humiliating defeat and it could barely manage to hike up its 2014 tally of 44 to 52 seats this time. Congress President Rahul Gandhi was defeated by Union Minister Smriti Irani in his family borough of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh. His win from Wayanad in Kerala was the only saving grace.

The Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party who forged an alliance in UP were defeated, while the Rashtriya Janata Dal-led ‘Maha Gathbandhan’ was crushed by BJP-JD(U)-LJP alliance in Bihar.

It was indeed a historic day in India’s post-Independence history. Prime Minister Narendra Modi naturally deserves congratulations for this hard-earned victory, but I want to congratulate and thank the people of India for this landslide win. The Indian voters showed they were mature enough in electing a strong and stable government led by a decisive leader. In the process, they have strengthened India’s democracy and have paved the way for India’s likely emergence as a world superpower.

I salute the people of India for rejecting the crass politics of caste and religion, for openly showing unhappiness over dynastic politics that has been perpetuated over the decades since independence. The people voted as one and kept the interests of India in their mind.

I congratulate Modi for his boundless energy, his utmost dedication, his clean image and his sincerity in winning the hearts of the common people. It was he who guided the voters to keep nationalism above dynasty, caste and religion based politics.

Normally, members of Parliament elect their leader as Prime Minister, but it was in reverse order this time. It was the PM who single handedly got his candidates elected as MPs. The message is clear: the people of India voted Modi to power for his government’s performance over the last five years. For the first time in post-Independence history, a non-Congress government has been re-elected for another term at the Centre. After Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, Modi became the third leader to win a successive mandate. To be brief: the victory this time was purely Modi’s.

On Thursday, Modi was at his best when he showed humility while accepting the accolades of thousands of his party workers at the party office. The people of India trust Modi for delivering on his promises. In an earlier episode of my show ‘Aap Ki Adalat’ several years ago, Modi had said that the Indian government should stop writing ‘love letters’ to Pakistan. He put his own advice into action, when he ordered a surgical strike after Uri terror attack, and then directed an air strike deep inside Pakistan to punish the perpetrators of crime in Kashmir’s Pulwama.

The people of India wholeheartedly praised Modi’s actions against Pakistan. This was the new face of a changing India. The people supported his “ghar mein ghus ke marengey” (we will strike inside their home) assertions with full throated vigour. They gave him more than 300 LS seats, so that he can head a strong government that can give a stern message to the wrongdoers.

The debacle of India’s Grand Old Party was all the more saddening. The Congress lost because of its president Rahul Gandhi’s exceeding overconfidence, his use of slur words like “Chowkidar Chor Hai’ against the Prime Minister, his baseless allegations of “Modi put Rs 30,000 crores in Anil Ambani’s pockets” at almost all his rallies, his threat of throwing Modi behind bars if Congress came to power, his dragging of names of Modi’s parents in the heat of poll campaign. The common voter disliked this and then decided to give the party and its leader a tight slap. Rahul was defeated in his family borough of Amethi. The last defeat of his family in Amethi was in 1977, when Sanjay Gandhi was defeated after Emergency.

Several senior Congress leaders I had spoken to, had told me that the common voters were not taking Rahul’s words on unemployment, farm distress and Rs 72,000 per annum NYAY promise, at face value. His rantings on Rafale deal did not cut any ice among the electorate.

The result: Had the Congress not won 18 LS seats from Kerala, the party’s overall tally in Parliament would have gone much below 44 that it had won five years ago. Rahul has faced a major political defeat. I believe that he could have avoided delaying the entry of his sister Priyanka Vadra into politics. He practically wasted the campaigning power and stamina of his sister in this election.

The surprising results from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh signify the emergence of a new brand of politics in these two caste conscious states.

On Wednesday, a day before counting, I had a word with all our camera persons and reporters, who traversed the length and breadth of UP and Bihar to bring election news to your homes on television. Most of them told me that the Modi government along with Yogi’s and Nitish Kumar’s state governments, ensured that the fruits of welfare schemes reached the homes of poor and lower income groups. These poor voters benefited immensely from direct benefit transfer, and they cut across caste and religion to vote for Modi.

You may have noticed during the campaign that SP supremo Akhilesh Yadav and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav used to say that Modi’s speeches begin with toilets and end with toilets. They were poking fun at Modi on the issue of Swachh Bharat. On the other hand, Modi used to describe in his speeches how his government had saved women from the indignity of being forced to defecate in the open, by building toilets in villages. This touched an emotional chord in the hearts of women in these two Hindi heartland states.

Similarly, millions of small traders benefited from Mudra loan yojana, poor women in villages got LPG cylinders in their kitches under Ujjwala yojana, and low income families got houses under Pradhan Mantra Awas Yojana. Clearly Modi had succeded in providing welfare benefits to the poorest of the poor, and the voters cut across caste and religion lines to vote for him. They refused to kowtow to decades old so-called “vote banks” based on caste, clan, dynastic and religious loyalties. They were now voting for performance at the ground level.

In West Bengal, the common voters gave a warning signal to Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee by electing 18 BJP MPs, and limiting the TMC to 22 seats. How did this miracle happen? Eight years ago, Mamata’s party had wrested power from the Left Front after years of struggle
, but in the process, her party adopted the same formula used by the Left, that led to its downfall. BJP workers this time fought political battles against Mamata over issues of appeasement of minorities and restrictions on Durga idol immersion. Several of their party workers laid their lives because of political violence, while the silent majority in Bengal kept watching. The common voters did not come out on the streets to shout slogans. They decided to quietly walk into the polling booths and cast their votes for BJP. Mamata Banerjee has now alleged tampering of electronic voting machines, but none in Bengal is going to buy her theory.

In Punjab, the ruling Congress party managed to win only eight out of total 13 seats. The party could have won more seats, but chief minister Capt. Amarinder Singh blamed this on his minister Navjot Singh Sidhu for allowing himself to be hugged by Pakistan Army Chief General Bajwa. This sent a wrong message to the common voters in Punjab, who decided to teach the Congress a lesson.

To sum up, the voters of India have sent all those leaders packing who had been seeking votes in the name of caste, clan and religion. It is clear that the electorate will now elect its representatives only on the basis of performance and positive thinking. Modi built toilets, and women voted for him. Modi built houses, and the poor voted for him. Modi gave expensive medical treatment facility up to Rs 5 lakh to poor people, and the downtrodden voted for him. If a political party gets votes for providing LPG cylinders and electricity to the poor, there is nothing wrong in it. Modi told the middle class that he was using their money from the taxes they were paying to help the poor, and the middle class trusted him.

Had the Opposition understood Modi’s line of thought, it could have had a chance to give him a sensible fight. The opposition chose the traditional method of ‘vote banks’, ‘vote mathematics’ and ‘family loyalties’, and this was a major blunder. The opposition failed to understand Modi, but the common voter understood Modi, and saluted him by extending his wholehearted support.