Narendra Modi ‘Humbled’; His ‘Aura Of Invincibility Shattered’: How Global Media Reacted To Lok Sabha Election Results

Lok Sabha Election Results 2024: The international media has termed the Lok Sabha election results as ‘unexpectedly sobering’ and asserted that the Indian voters have “shattered” the perceived “aura of invincibility” around incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi and given a fresh lease of life to the Opposition.

“Suddenly, the aura of invincibility around Narendra Modi has been shattered,” the New York Times noted, while terming the Indian election results as “unexpectedly sobering” which demarcates a “sharp reversal a decade into Mr Modi’s transformational tenure.”

For the past decade, India has been “synonymous internationally with its prime minister, Narendra Modi. But on Tuesday, as final election results poured in, the electorate appeared to show dissatisfaction with the status quo and placed the serial winner onto shaky ground,” The Washington Post wrote.

‘Humbling moment’ for PM Modi

The Post noted that there was “tepid support for his Hindu nationalist party, piercing the air of invincibility around the most dominant Indian politician in decades”.

“Going into this election, Modi had set a goal of winning 400 seats in the lower house of parliament, or Lok Sabha But as results began to trickle in Tuesday night, it quickly became clear his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party wouldn’t even have enough to form a simple majority. Instead, for the first time since coming to power a decade ago, Modi will be reliant on longstanding local coalition partners to keep him in government,” CNN said in its report.

The CNN report termed the poll results “a humbling moment for a leader whose lead in the polls was lauded by supporters as unassailable”.

Verdict marks Congress’ revival

The BBC remarked that the election verdict marked a surprising revival for the Congress Party-led INDIA Opposition alliance, defying earlier predictions of its decline, and sharply diverging from both exit polls and pre-election surveys, adding that the results will also energise the much-criticised Congress-led Opposition.

“The election results show that Brand Modi has lost some of its shine, indicating that even Modi is susceptible to anti-incumbency. In other words, he is not as invincible as many of his supporters believed. This offers renewed hope to the Opposition,” BBC said.

A more powerful opposition

“This election is undoubtedly a rebuke for Modi and the BJP,” Time magazine quoted Milan Vaishnav, the Director of the South Asia Program at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, as saying.

“After ten years in power, it was in many ways a referendum on its track record in office and there are clearly many Indians who are feeling restless and uneasy.”

Modi now faces a more powerful Opposition than at any point over the past decade, it said.

“His (PM Modi) poorer performance will have political ramifications. At a minimum, the BJP will have to depend more on the junior members of its existent multi-party alliance.”

The Wall Street Journal called it an election rebuke for Modi.

The election results indicated Modi had not achieved the landslide victory many had predicted, a piece in The Guardian stated.

“The Opposition alliance appeared to far outperform expectations,” the UK-based newspaper added.

CBC News said the Congress Party was given ‘a new lease on life’ in the election.

‘India still a democracy, elections showed’

India’s election shows the world’s largest democracy is still a democracy, Vox Media, a US-based mass media company emphasised.

“If the basic test of whether a country remains a democracy is that the party in power can still suffer a setback at the ballot box, India passed on Tuesday. Results from the nation’s parliamentary elections — the largest in the world — indicate a shocking electoral setback for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP),” it said.

“Modi will continue to be the dominant force in Indian politics (and a significant force in global politics) for years to come, but his rise looks less inevitable and invincible than it did just a few days ago, and the world’s largest democracy’s politics look just a bit more democratic,” it said.

‘Modi govt may focus on public welfare in 3rd term’

In his third term, the Modi-led government might shift its focus to domestic issues, prioritising public welfare and fair distribution of growth benefits, and even adopting a softer stance on Hindu nationalism, a state-run China Daily said, citing analysts.

Qian Feng, director of the research department at Tsinghua University’s National Strategy Institute, said in his third term, Modi is likely to stay consistent with his foreign policy.

Qian said that the government could leverage global and regional shifts to boost India’s political, economic and diplomatic strength, enhancing its international presence.

‘Weaker but still lethal’

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper noted that “Modi’s victory, even if diluted is certainly not a good omen for Pakistan,”

“Relations between the two countries hit a new low under the two previous Modi governments. It’s not surprising that the Indian prime minister had upped the ante against Pakistan on the election trail,” the Dawn wrote in its editorial titled ‘Weaker but still lethal’.

India should reach out to Pakistan, and the state should respond positively to any Indian overtures. Naturally, rebuilding trust will take time, but long-term peace in South Asia is impossible without better Pakistan-India ties, it noted.

“India cannot skirt around the Kashmir question; both sides should at least start talking, even if they agree to disagree. Let India’s incoming government start afresh with Pakistan,” the leading Pakistani newspaper hoped.

Lok Sabha Election Results 2024

The Lok Sabha elections results on Tuesday threw a massive surprise with the BJP falling well short of the majority mark, bagging 240 seats, and unlike 2019, must now rely on its NDA allies to form the government.

However, with support from key allies N Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Nitish Kumar’s JD(U), which won 16 and 12 seats in Andhra Pradesh and Bihar, respectively, and other alliance partners, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) crossed the halfway mark.

The NDA has won 293 seats, while the opposition INDIA bloc has 232 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha. A minimum of 272 seats are required to form a government at the Centre.

(With inputs from agencies)