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It has been a pyrrhic victory for India’s Narendra Modi who is now elected for a record three consecutive terms as prime minister of the world’s most populous nation. While his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) failed to get a majority in the national elections, he will now be heading a tenuous coalition government. Although much weakened, there is no sign that the third-time prime minister will step back from his hard-line Hindu nationalist agenda.

It was a shocking reversal for the strongman prime minister whose Hindu nationalist politics have reshaped India’s secular democracy. The election results defied the exit polls that had forecast a landslide victory for the ruling party. Modi was confident of winning a two-third majority in the parliament that could have paved the way for turning the country into a Hindu majoritarian state.

Surprisingly the biggest setback for the BJP which has been ruling the country for a decade came in its main bastion and biggest state, Utter Pardesh (UP). It was the overwhelming support in this state that had propelled Modi to power in the previous two elections. The loss of its power base in the most populous state with the highest number of seats in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the parliament, cost the party its majority.

Pull-quote: A third term........

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