Modi & jai jawan, jai kisan' trap

Modi govt will need to address massive challenges without the total power it got used to, in the face of relentless electoral challenges, one after another

- SHEKHAR GUPTA

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's third term is well under way. He knows better than any other that this term is fundamentally different from the first two, sort of sui generis.

His political training and experience haven't prepared him to run an arrangement like this. The lack of a majority isn't the issue. He has enough in 240, especially as none of his allies can pull down his coalition. That's why he's started as if this were just another, normal term. That pretence is vital for him.

The change for Modi 3.0 comes not from numbers, but from the new environment of contestation, something I anticipated in a piece on the day of the election results. To try and understand this better, we will mix metaphors from different sports. Contact sports first, because that's what politics is.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and partners won a points victory as if in a boxing match. The victory wasn't narrow. But it was no quick knockout like the last two. Their rivals were able to land some punches, are still in the ring, on their feet, and fighting.

They also believe the reigning "champion" is beatable. This is the change now. You can see it in how Rahul Gandhi and others in the INDIA bloc are already in the political street. In 2014 and 2019, they had melted away to lick their wounds or were in some deep, distant spiritual contemplation. Now we switch from contact sports to the more familiar cricket.

Think of the 2024 verdict as a qualifier in which the Opposition earned the right to challenge the title-holder in a kind of Test championship final.

Test cricket is played one session at a time. In this Test, the first session will be the three state elections later this year: Maharashtra, Haryana, and Jharkhand. In each, the rivals are resurgent. We are not listing Jammu and Kashmir here. It brings formidable but different challenges.