Heading into his third term as Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) no longer has a parliamentary majority, forced to rely on allies to form government. This is a far cry from the two-thirds majority the party had hoped to achieve and had been forecast to achieve. Prior to the polls, pundits had seen Modi’s election as nigh-inevitable “given the carefully curated cult of personality” built up around him and the centralization of power in his decade of rule. Exit polls had projected a landslide for the BJP, but the results failed to deliver, yielding a more complicated and diverse picture of India’s political landscape that perceived by outside observers.
Throughout his electoral campaign, Modi had made no secret of his desire to use his upcoming term as a means to further promote the brand of Hindutva propagated by the BJP. Just a few weeks before the polls, he had inaugurated the Ram Mandir at Ayodhya on the site of the demolished Babri Masjid, an event that had served as a rallying cry for Hindu nationalists. The ceremony was attended by various celebrities, but was boycotted by primary opposition party Indian National Congress, which accused the BJP of politicizing religion and steering India toward a dangerous form of majoritarianism.
Key to Congress’ concerns was the ongoing deterioration of the secularism enshrined in India’s Constitution—to the seeming delight of the country’s majority Hindu population and dread of its minorities. The BJP’s decade of rule saw the mainstreaming of Hindutva politics, raising tensions between Hindus and Muslims and sparking a resurgence in communal violence. The BJP’s electoral losses show that, for most of the country, this was not acceptable. Do the results also suggest a return to India’s secularism—or is the rot too deep? Realistically, the damage done by the BJP would take several years to reverse, with the process likely to bring more pain for non-Hindus of the country. But the hit to Modi’s strongman persona would, at the least, ensure India’s secular constitution has a fighting chance once more.