PM Modi’s appeal is not dented by one election result (2024)

While the BJP’s vote share has remained unchanged since 2019 at 37.37 per cent, it could not reach the magic number of 272 seats. But this election tells another political tale. The BJP made a leap forward in states where it had been a symbolic force. In three states — Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana — its vote share has increased substantially since the 2014 elections. In Kerala, it jumped to 16.8 per cent and the party opened its account in the Lok Sabha. Similarly, its vote share increased in Tamil Nadu from 3.66 per cent to 10.7 per cent. In Telangana, its share went up from 19.45 per cent in 2019 to 35 per cent. This growth is a result of a sustained effort to expand the party’s base. The BJP government in Delhi is no longer dependent on North India alone.

In the east, the party uprooted the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Odisha and formed the government, increasing its vote share by 19 per cent in the process. In West Bengal, the party’s share has increased from 17 per cent in 2014 to 38.73 per cent in 2024. The party leadership has used ideology, and political and cultural issues to cultivate support. This kind of success for an ideological party should be more cause for concern for Nehruvians than the ephemeral joys of a reduction in the BJP’s seats. The 2024 election could be just a pause for the BJP, not a setback.

Modi is a politician who thinks long-term. Therefore, the evaluation of his actions should not be solely on the numbers in successive elections. Neither Nehru nor Modi can be considered purely political actors.

The most remarkable aspect of the Modi government has been the initiation of a theoretical understanding of the role and nature of the Indian state. This gives him a unique place in modern India. Since the colonial era, a particular understanding of what makes a nation-state has been ingrained in students. The study of history has been largely about the Gandhian strand of the freedom movement. All this has overlooked our civilisational richness and the intellectual contributions of our ancestors. Moreover, advocacy of such issues was contemptuously described as a “cultural right” preoccupation. This is a hangover from the colonial tradition. The dearth of saffron intellectuals to secure an academic foundation meant Marxists and Nehruvians had a monopoly in defining the idea of India.

The RSS did find common ground with Congress leaders like S Radhakrishnan, Sampurnanda, K M Munshi and often studied their speeches and writings. The Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS) and BJP occasionally shared power with other parties in states and the Centre since 1967. However, the philosophical understanding of nationalism, secularism and culture remained broadly unchanged. It is here that Modi makes a difference.

He has used India’s cultural past and philosophy not only to redefine the idea of India but also to influence the Western mind. His progressive contextualisation of of our cultural past has ensured a connect with the people that is beyond politics. He has addressed something that has remained suppressed in India’s subconscious. The common person on the street doesn’t hesitate to debate such issues now. Modi has underpinned the role of Hindu spirituality in moulding India’s world view.

The natural corollary of all this is the mobilisation of a new intelligentsia and the production of pro-Hindutva works. This makes Modi more than a politician — he is more of a harbinger of a new era. How can one ignore his reverence of the forgotten tribal leader Birsa Munda, the sacrifices of Guru Gobind Singh’s teenage sons, Zorawar Singh and Fateh Singh in the defence of religion and culture, and his appeal to Babasaheb Ambedkar’s legacy. Modi’s first step on the world stage after coming to power in 2014 was popularising yoga. He has done all this in the face of a fierce opposition that has criticised him for ruining the liberal-secular tradition and upturning the existing intellectual hegemony.

The 2024 elections, however, provide the party a few lessons. MPs cannot use the leadership’s popularity and credibility and their welfare programmes to escape their moral responsibilities to their constituencies. Modi’s popularity in almost every constituency in the country has supported many of them. But they should not take it for granted. I remember in the first meeting of the BJP’s MPs after the 2019 elections, the PM directed his party colleagues to not forget the people and suggested programmes to connect with the people – yoga camps, sports events or even utilising welfare measures as an outreach method. The failure to heed these words is at the root of their failures. Perhaps the party’s focus on its welfare programmes, which helped expand the BJP’s social base, prevented it from recognising the credibility deficit of some of its MPs and candidates.

It is also important to redefine welfarism. While farmers and the marginalised got support from the government, the party’s intellectuals remained unconcerned about the propaganda of the opposition parties and their intellectual allies, centred on reservation, the Constitution, and majoritarianism. The polemical campaign of BJP’s adversaries derives strength from their seven-decade-old political legacy. The BJP cadre has not been trained to contest them more vociferously and intellectually. They find themselves at a disadvantage in countering the old Nehruvian narrative of being an upper-caste Hindu hegemonic force.

The BJP’s next challenge is to use civilisational narratives to incorporate minorities within its version of social inclusion. The party’s long political innings can naturally counter its image of an anti-minority party. Modi’s firm stand against appeasem*nt has been now internalised by even his political adversaries.

It should also be realised that forces countering Hindutva are weak but not dead. They solicit support from abroad and use Hindutva’s success to deny the legitimate image of India and the nationalist forces. That’s why many non-state actors in Europe and America wanted the BJP to be defeated. Their hopes have been dashed by the 2024 mandate.

The writer is a BJP Rajya Sabha MP