The Bharatiya Janata Party’s ‘victory’ in the recently concluded India General Elections is weighing heavily on party workers and veterans. While most are still trying to analyze why the Narendra Modi-led outfit did not achieve the majority mark of 272 seats in the Lok Sabha, some feel the 2024 general election results, where NDA managed to cross the majority mark but fell way short of its expected 400 seats, is a time for self-introspection and re-strategizing.
“I am personally disappointed that the people of India, especially UP, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra did not give an overwhelming majority to Prime Minister Narendra Modi who has done so much for the people of India. India has progressed a lot and become the fifth-largest economy in the world. Every sector of India, whether it is education, agriculture, industrial, road and air transportation, or military, has made remarkable progress. People all over the world are recognizing it, and yet in these three states for whatever reason they did not give an overwhelming vote to BJP,” Dr Bharat Barai, a Chicago-based oncologist, a long-time activist of VHP-America and a staunch BJP supporter, told Indica. Barai is a long-time associate of Modi, who has been instrumental in organizing the Indian American community and multiple diaspora events in the United States each time Modi visits the US.
Dr. Barai is a veteran Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) member based in the USA. VHP is the cultural wing of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the pro-Hindu paramilitary organization.
“He is still the prime minister and will continue to lead the NDA. Both TDP and JDU will continue to support him for their own reasons and they also realize that if other parties succeed in enticing them, they would secure the bare majority. With their contradictions within the INDIA bloc, there is no way such a government would last. I’m happy that Modi is assuming India’s leadership again. It will be a very stable coalition government. Hopefully, they will do some soul-searching and try to see what they could do differently next time. Because this government needed outstanding support purely based on its own merits,” Barai added.
He believes the BJP lost some votes because the party’s voters and supporters became complacent and believed its projected score of crossing 400 seats in this election. “And there was a heat factor. The voting percentage was somewhat less than last time. The question to be considered now is whether it’s appropriate in India to go for polls in May or should it be done in February, October, or November. I’m not happy, though they formed the government but I wish there would be a stronger mandate for him to carry out the reforms that are necessary to push India into the third place in global economies.”
About the defeat of the BJP in Faizabad, which comprises Ayodhya, where the Ram Mandir was inaugurated with pomp and show earlier this year, Barai feels that the people there are yet to realize the economic benefits that the temple is going to bring. “Ayodhya has become congested, the property prices have gone up so much that the common man has not started seeing the benefits. When hotels are going to be built, there will be jobs for so many people. But right now, real estate developers, and entrepreneurs, are buying out land, and houses in Ayodhya. The people’s resentment was more related to inconvenience, people not getting adequate prices and not being able to see the impact the temple will have on those living in Ayodhya. Once a lot of tourists come in, people start staying in hotels and a lot of people get jobs, the feeling will be different.”
“Plus there was a lot of anti-propaganda among the scheduled caste where the opposition parties said that if BJP got 400 seats they would change the constitution and take away the reservation for the scheduled caste. And they did a lot of propaganda at that time to scare people,” Barai said.
Losing in Ayodhya, despite delivering on the promise of inaugurating the Ram Mandir, will continue to annoy the BJP for some time to come. “The margin in Ayodhya by which BJP lost was only 5%. The total number of votes secured by NDA in UP is 0.17% more than the INDIA block. They got more votes, but they still got 11 fewer seats in the state. The Ram Mandir message went well all over the country, in Odisha they got 19 out of 19 seats. But in a state like Rajasthan, the result was a surprise because they just won the [state] election recently.”
Barai wanted to attend the oath-taking ceremony of Modi on June 9, but the results changed his plans. “Along with 10 other people, I was planning to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the Prime Minister. But after this election result, things got into a bit of turmoil. Now, because of a coalition government, the PM will be very busy with negotiations on cabinet positions. Plus, now leaders from across the globe are going to attend the oath-taking ceremony. So, I spoke to the PM’s office and told them that we are not coming now because the PM will be busy meeting all these people. If they had 400 seats, they would have had a free hand in taking decisions on cabinet portfolios. Now he will have to be very careful about regional and, caste balance. So, we said we’ll visit India, but a little later.”
When asked whether it will be challenging for Modi to function in a coalition, Barai said: “Nitish Kumar and Chandra Babu Naidu have their own reasons to stay in the NDA. Naidu realizes that he needs support to get financial support for the economy of Andhra Pradesh and Nitish Kumar wants money for Bihar’s development.”
On whether VHP-America and BJP supporters will celebrate Modi’s third term in office, he said: “We are working on it. Instead of celebrating the usual way, we should show our gratitude to Narendra Modi and party workers for five more years of service to the nation. We want to promote the concept of seva. We want to highlight how the BJP is different from other parties, they are not there for their personal benefit. They are there for the nation. That message has to go out.”
Referring to the ‘disappointing’ 2024 poll results, Barai said: “Such things happen, and can become a blessing in disguise as it allows the party to do some introspection and redouble their services for people. Such a result will help keep the focus concentrated on service to the nation and save you from becoming a ruling class. It may be good to be reminded that we have to be a service organization and that the party should concentrate on the people and the development of the country.”
