New Delhi: The New York Times’s news analysis titled ‘Narendra Modi Fell to Earth After Making It All About Himself’ traces how the Indian PM’s singular persona led the party to new heights and then, a decade later, how it was used by the opposition against him.
Modi, who identified himself as having risen from a humble caste and economic background, promised to change people’s lives through robust development. However, “the opposition found traction in painting a very different picture of Mr Modi — as an autocratic friend of billionaires”. The idea of “Modi’s guarantee” now associated him with “being an arrogant politician”, the article notes.
The piece by Mujib Mashal, Suhasini Raj, and Hari Kumar, quotes voters raising concerns like “unemployment”, and “He has done some good. But people cannot worship him endlessly”.
“There were always risks in wrapping a party’s fortunes so completely in the image of one man, in inundating a country of many religions, castes, and cultures with that leader’s name, face and voice. Voters could start to think that everything was about him, not them. They could even revolt,” it says.
“India’s strained democracy roared back to life” with these results, the NYT article adds.
The Washington Post’s Adela Suliman brings to the readers an explainer on understanding the Indian elections. Titled ‘Here’s what to know about Modi and the Indian election’, the article highlights that “election results in India have not given Prime Minister Narendra Modi a predicted landslide majority.”
After sweeping wins in 2014 on “a wave of national anger over corruption” and, in 2019, tapping the “nationalist sentiment over a border clash with Pakistan”, analysts expected him to brush the poorly funded Opposition this time as well, it reads. Modi’s coalition is expected to reach a massive 400-mark majority as “the electorate appeared to show dissatisfaction with the status quo and placed the serial winner onto shaky ground”.
The Economist’s global podcast ‘The Intelligence’ said that the Indian strongman has been humbled while commenting on the Modi-led BJP’s loss of majority.
While Modi was forecasted to win a sweeping majority, economic anxiety and fears of constitutional changes if BJP reached the promised “400-mark” contributed to this surprise outcome.
While the national vote share of the BJP and the Opposition hasn’t changed much, the distribution of votes has changed, Jeremy Page notes, especially in the states of Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and West Bengal.
The episode titled ‘What the humbling of Modi means for India’, speaks of the power of “kingmakers” and “coalition compromises” Modi will have to make. It also mentions the resilience of Indian democracy and its ability to correct itself.
A DW video report talks about how the 2024 election results have weakened Modi, now at the mercy of coalition partners. “He is not used to it” and “will have to change his unilateral decision making,” says correspondent Shalu Yadav.
Talking about UP, the most populous state that gave a surprising verdict, the report said that the bellwether state has taken a sharp turn from being a bastion of support to the BJP.
Remembering previous coalition governments in India, the DW highlights the difficulties that may now arise in policy and decision making and how governance is generally the casualty of coalition.
Bloomberg’s Ashutosh Joshi and Chiranjivi Chakraborty take the audience through the stock market fluctuations in the past two days following the declaration of the Indian election results.
The NSE Nifty 50 Index jumped 3.4 percent in Mumbai, its biggest gain in more than three years, the report states, as stocks rebounded after a key ally of the political alliance supported Modi’s claim to be PM for the third time. The report points out that stocks had plummeted Tuesday after Modi’s ruling party failed to win a majority in national elections, a stunning result after exit polls showed he was on pace for a landslide victory.
While strategists, including Mahesh Nandurkar, called the election outcome “a near-term derating event for the markets”, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. strategist Sunil Koul writes, “Indian stocks will look past the uncertainty caused by elections as corporate earnings and the nation’s economic stories are still intact.”
Also read: ‘Oppn given new life’, ‘wake-up call’, ‘unexpectedly sobering’ — global media on India mandate
Putin’s warning to the West & first bird flu death recorded in Mexico
In a press conference with international news agencies, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the West that his country would not rule out using nuclear weapons if its sovereignty or territory were threatened. Read Al Jazeera’s report to learn more.
The World Health Organization has confirmed that the death of a 59-year-old resident of Mexico on 24 April was due to bird flu. It was the first laboratory-confirmed human case of infection with A(H5N2) subtype of bird flu reported globally. To know more, read NBC’s report.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
Also read: Exit polls bring ‘relief’ for BJP & Wall Street turns its focus from China to India