English
All hail the chief Friday as the press across the country, and in different languages, recognises Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s unprecedented victory
The Deccan Chronicle splashes “Tsunamo 2.0” on page 1, crediting Hindutva for Modi’s mandate which is bigger than in 2014.
“Narendra Modi’s charisma and magic virtually turned India into a “lotus garden”… The force of the Modi tornado was such that the Congress scion and party president Rahul Gandhi lost the home turn Amethi…” The paper also called Shah the “Chanakya” and compared him to L.K. Advani.
Bangalore Mirror credits the BJP win to Shah also, with the headline, “Shah and Shahenshah”. A “Kesari Bath” (a Kannada name for a saffron based sweet) was seen in Karnataka. It explains that the silent heroes were senior leaders of the Sangh Parivar who spread out across the country.
Deccan Herald reports that for BJP, saffronising the South is still a pipe dream. Except for sweeping Karnataka and making inroads into Telangana, the BJP was unable win any seats in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
The New Indian Express goes with a simple but strongly-worded headline “Tripleton”. While most of page 1 concerns how Modi won the election, it also talks of how the Congress-JDS coalition sank in the saffron wave. The paper says Shah may be the next finance minister of the country, according to its sources.
Chandigarh
The Tribune’s headline is similar to Bangalore Mirror;s — “Modi shahenShah”. The rest of the front page has one story, apiece, on Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu Kashmir catering to its regional readership. The paper also highlights how Captain Amarinder Singh wasn’t affected by the ‘Modi wave’.
Kashmir
In Jammu and Kashmir, Narendra Modi’s overwhelming victory grabbed most page 1 in the major news dailies.
Greater Kashmir, the largest English daily, carries the headline, “India chooses Modi again” with a sub-head saying, “Spectacular Win for the BJP; Opposition demolished”.
Rising Kashmir, founded by slain journalist Shujaar Bukhari, writes, “Saffron Surge” with a sub-head, “India gets Modi 2.0 upgrade”. Both newspapers, just like every other news daily here, gives considerable space to J&K’s fractured mandate with three seats going to BJP and the rest to the National Conference.
Daily Excelsior headline reads, “Modi magic sweeps India, Oppn left in dust”. It carried three news items prominently, one on BJP’s win in the country, second of its victory in Jammu and Ladakh and the third news item was of National Conference sweeping Kashmir.
Besides Modi’s victory, the other news story on page 1 is the defeat of former J&K chief minister Mehbooba Mufti from party bastion Anantnag.
Hindi
The Hindi press says it all through its headlines and page 1 images.
Amar Ujala and Dainik Bhaskar carry half page images of Modi’s ‘V for victory’ sign while Rashtriya Sahara uses a full page photograph of him
Dainik Bhaskar and Amar Ujala go one step further: they colour their headlines saffron and white. Bhaskar’s headline is joyful and playful: “Mitron! Modi hai toh mumkin hai” while Ujala simply says, “Prachand Modi”.
Rashtriya Sahara has a variation on that — “Prachand bharosa”.
Meanwhile, Hindustan has a five-column headline — “Mahavijeta Modi” along with Modi flashing the victory sign.
Dainik Jagran chooses to go with a cartoon illustration of the results which, again, says it all for the winners and the losers and the headline, “Phir ek baar Modi sarkar”.
Punjab Kesari’s illustration is a full page one with Modi dressed like a chowkidar — the headline reads “Khabardar! Phir aa gaya chowkidar”. Navbharat Times has Modi with a crown and lotus bloom on the crown — “Ajeya Modi”.
Punjabi
Ajit, the leading Punjabi newspaper gives Modi’s victory and Congress’ performance in the state on Page 1. Interestingly, an opinion piece by Harjinder Singh Lal is not on the election result but on the going growing rift between the Captain Amarinder Singh and his cabinet colleague Navjot Singh Sidhu.
Dainik Savera, a regional Hindi newspaper has a double-spread on pages 2 and 3 with the left hand side on “Punjab Captain army” and the right on “Desh mein Modi tsunami”.
Marathi
Loksatta carries a photograph of the BJP celebrations in Delhi with a cut-out of PM Modi towering above. The headline reads, “Modich (only Modi)”. It says Modi has single-handedly been successful in grasping the people’s pulse.
Maharashtra Times talks about how voters rejected efforts of almost two dozen opposition leaders to stop Modi from getting a second term.
Sakal describes the verdict like a cricket match, calling the elections the “Indian Political League” and Modi a “super batsman”. It declared Modi man of the match and Shah man of the series.
Bengali
Anandabazaar Patrika had the most dramatic headline on page one “Modi Modi”. The second story captures it all: “Pher ekbaar Modi sarkar, ebar aaro vipul bhave, virodhira andhokare. (Once again it’s Modi government, stronger than before, Opposition in darkness.)”
The Times of India’s Bengali paper Ei-Samay carries a map of India on page 1 dyed mostly in saffron along with the headline, “Bharat ja chilo, ja holo. (What India was, what it has become.)”
Uttar Bango Sambad, north Bengal’s most popular daily, hails BJP’s win in the region — 7 out of 8 seats with a simple and straightforward headline on page 1 — “Modi tsunami”.
Malayali
Mathrubhumi’s report in “Victorious Modi” says NDA will be in power again, even though BJP can form a government on its own. It has also jumped ahead of others and said the Modi government swearing in will happen Sunday.
In another story titled “UDF sweeps”, the paper details the performance of parties in the state with the Congress-led alliance winning the most seats — some with a one lakh margin, it writes, while the ruling CPI(M) was relegated to one seat and BJP drew a blank.
Tamil
Dinamani’s headline reads, “Modi Govt again. BJP to form the government with a single majority”. On the verdict in Tamil Nadu, it says “Victory sign for DMK in 37 seats”.
The Hindu Tamil’s lead story says, “Modi is on the throne again with a thumping majority in the parliamentary election. An incredible victory for BJP alliance.” When it comes to the state results, it says “Consolation victory for ADMK in Theni; Dreadful loss for allies. DMK alliance captures 38 seats”.
(With inputs from Aananth Daksnamurthy, Chitleen K Sethi, Manasi Phadke, Remya Nair, Moushumi Das Gupta, Renu Agal, Azaan Javaid, Rohini Swamy)