How Modi reshaped India’s political map

As PM Modi completes 4,399 days in office, he is credited with reshaping India’s polity and building new vote bases for the BJP

- Smriti Kak Ramachandran

On May 20, 2014, Narendra Modi knelt on the steps of Parliament and touched his forehead on the ground.

He was soon to be elected as the leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) parliamentary party. Inside the historic central hall, slogans and cheers reverberated as he was showered with praise for steering BJP to a historic win in the Lok Sabha polls. Party patriarch LK Advani said it was the BJP and “Narendra Bhai Ki Kripa” (with his blessings) that he could see the day.

When Modi rose to speak, his voice cracked with emotion. “Advaniji ne ek shabd kaha. Main Advanji se prarthna karoonga ki woh iss shabd ka istmaal na kare... (Advaniji used a word. I will request him not to use this term)...” he said adding that he considered BJP as his mother, and a son serves the mother.

He then proceeded to explain how the election verdict was a “vote for the BJP” and not against the Congress. “Had it been a fractured verdict then one could say that people had vented their anger against the government and that it was anti-establishment. But by giving BJP an absolute majority they have voted for hope and trust. People have voted for hope and faith,” he said.

It was this verdict that the PM and his party set out to amplify as they sought to expand the BJP’s reach both geographically as well as ideologically. From being in power in seven states before the May verdict, the BJP has grown to being in power in 22 states and union territories in 2026 with its allies. “We were in (power) five states, which were also our strongholds, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh and in alliance with our partners in Punjab and Andhra Pradesh. Today the BJP alone is in power in 15 states, including West Bengal and Odisha where we were never in power, and PM Modi’s leadership has made it possible,” said a senior party leader and a national office bearer.