How Modi govt mastered art of ideology and balance of power

NDA Walked the Tightrope of Coalition Politics and Won Enough Polls to Suggest the Mild 2024 Setback Was a Blip

- Smriti Kak Ramachandran

NEW DELHI: On June 9, 2024, Narendra Modi took oath in the forecourt of the imposing Rashtrapati Bhavan for the third time as Prime Minister. The grand ceremony, marking the return of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance to power, was held under the shadow of the BJP's diminished majority. For the first time since 2014, when it came to power at the Centre with a brute majority, the BJP's numbers had fallen short of the half-way mark, and it had to rely on coalition partners to keep its juggernaut rolling.

The election of 2024 was as much a story of the BJP's decline as it was of the resurgence of the Opposition and the comeback of coalitions. If it felt vanquished, having shrunk from 303 to 240 in the 543 member Lok Sabha, the BJP didn't show it; instead, riding on support from allies, the Telegu Desam Party, the Janata Dal United and a cluster of smaller parties, it set about fulfilling its agenda.

Soon after the oath ceremony, PM Modi put out a statement on X, "...I look forward to serving 140 crore Indians and working with the Council of Ministers to take India to new heights of progress." The NDA's third term began with the sceptics and its opponents alluding to the coalition compulsions and suggesting that given their history of changing partners, the allies could rock the boat sooner than later.

The TDP had walked out of the NDA in 2018, citing the delay in granting special status to Andhra Pradesh, and the JDU broke ties with the BJP in 2013 and 2022.

But as it completes one year in office, (and its 11th since 2014), the BJP has not only kept its friends close, but by deputing Opposition lawmakers as India's ambassadors post Operation Sindoor, defanged the critics to a considerable extent. With the passage of contentious bills such as the one to amend the Waqf law, it has also proved that its numerical strength (or the lack of it) in Parliament is not an impediment to carrying out its ideological agenda.