Rising graph of BJP and absent hand of Congress

After the National Democratic Alliance's unbelievable victory in Bihar and the Mahagathbandhan's shattering defeat, there are two questions that stare us in the face - why do the BJP and Narendra Modi keep winning? Why do the Congress and Rahul Gandhi keep losing? These are not easy questions to answer, but, equally, they are important questions to ask. So, let me offer a series of issues that seek to explore these questions.

- Karan Thapar

Let me start with the question many people have been asking - why do the BJP and Modi keep winning? After eleven-and-a-half years in power, one would expect the country would want a change. That anit-incumbency and tiredness with the same party would set in. But, instead, the BJP and its allies swept to a phenomenal victory. Hence, my question: Why do the BJP and Modi keep winning?

In June 2024, when he returned for a third term as Prime Minister (PM), Modi was perceived to be diminished. He was dependent on allies. The BJP, it was thought, was running out of steam. But after the party's sweeping victories in Haryana, Maharashtra, Delhi and, now, Bihar, does that impression still hold? Modi seems as strong as he's ever been.

So, is there something about PM Modi that has caught the imagination of the country, which political analysts and the Opposition don't understand, and don't know how to counter? Does he, in other words, represent the zeitgeist of our time? Has he altered the grammar of politics?