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The Vishwaguru who addressed the maximum rallies and boasted of being blessed with divine energy, who promised guarantees in his own name, turned out finally not invincible, points out Jyoti Punwani.
What is the best thing about the Lok Sabha results?
There's not one, but too many welcome outcomes to condense in one sentence. But surely, the victories of candidates Mohua Moitra (the TMC firebrand expelled from the Lok Sabha after a fraudulent inquiry); 'Comrade' Amra Ram (CPI-M farmers' leader from Sikar, Rajasthan); Raja Ram Singh and Sudama Prasad (Bihar CPI-ML, a party that fights for the poor); Supriya Sule (Sharad Pawar's last bid against the BJP's untiring efforts to end his hold over Baramati); Anil Desai (Uddhav Sena's Rajya Sabha MP, fighting his first election); Awadesh Prasad (Samajwadi Party winner from Ayodhya where the Ram Mandir was consecrated just 6 months ago by the PM); K L Sharma (the unknown Congressman who defeated Minister Smriti Irani from Amethi); and Manipur's Angomcha Akoijam and Alfred Arthur, would count among these.
In each of their victories lies a David versus Goliath story, and one which shows that voters have not yet been brainwashed by the 24/7 propaganda that the BJP runs through its many arms: be it TV channels or Whatsapp groups.
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The other equally crucial outcome of this result is the shattering of the myth of Dear Leader. The Vishwaguru who addressed the maximum rallies and boasted of being blessed with divine energy, who promised guarantees in his own name, turned out finally not invincible.
There could have been no better indicator of this than the changed language of our TV channels. On Monday night, three anchors and their guests spent an hour singing paeans to 'Brand Modi', comparing him to a 'buffet; from whom every section can take what it likes, a dashavtar who presents himself differently to different people.
On Tuesday, when the results clearly showed that the BJP was substantially short of a majority on its own, these same anchors were questioning their BJP guests on whether the 'Modi factor' was enough any longer.
Modi's own victory too sits strangely with the claims he and his party make about him being the chosen of the gods. At 6 pm, Modi's victory margin was slightly higher than 152,000, down from almost 5 lakhs and 4 lakhs in 2019 and 2014 respectively
Rahul Gandhi, on the other hand, the man whose name the PM and his party take with derision, was leading with more than 3,89,000 votes in Rae Bareli, and 3,64,000 from Wayanad.
The icing on the cake is that this time, it was the Congress' narrative that made a difference to the outcome. Rahul Gandhi holding up the Constitution; and the Congress' warning that the Constitution would be in danger if the BJP wins 400-plus seats, seems to have swayed people to deny this dangerous prize to those in a position to change it.
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That we finally have a Parliamentary Opposition representing all of India is, of course, the best thing about the Lok Sabha results. Last time, the Lok Sabha had rung with shouts of 'Jai Sri Ram' as the BJP's 303 MPs took their oath to uphold the Constitution. This time, at least half the MPs will not make such a mockery of the Constitution.
But the implications of the results (at 8 pm, June 4) go beyond the relief of having an Opposition that should not be bulldozed as easily as the BJP, aided by the Lok Sabha Speaker, has been doing over the last 9 years. 2015 was the last time the Opposition could play its role and stall the passing of the Land Acquisition Bill.
For the first time in his political career, Narendra Modi is dependent on others to stay in power. What conditions Nitish Kumar of the Janata Dal-United will impose, remains to be seen. Right now, the man who refused to share the stage with Modi even though he was his ally, who walked out of the NDA without any notice, can call the shots. It was under him that the BJP was forced to agree to a caste census.
Known for his closeness to Bihar's Muslims, will he force a tone down of the BJP's aggressive Hindutva pitch? Will Chandrababu Naidu, now the BJP's ally with the largest number of seats, do so?
One of Naidu's campaign promises was to protect the 4% reservations for Muslims in Andhra Pradesh, and to restore all the welfare measures for them which CM Jagan Mohan Reddy had done away with.
Will he force Modi, whose entire campaign rested on condemning reservations for Muslims and the Congress' 'appeasement' of Muslims, to accept his programme?
The TDP chief stands out for promising specific measures to Muslims; no other political party has done so. In fact, no party has even mentioned the constant attack on Muslims by the ruling party at the Centre, despite the prime minister targeting the community in his campaign. Yet, Muslims have reason to rejoice.
Yogi Adityanath, one of two CMs who symbolise policies that strike at Muslims' livelihood, education and identity, sees a depletion of seats in what was considered a stronghold nobody could breach. And that's thanks to Akhilesh Yadav, the man the BJP hates because his father once ordered firing on a BJP mob out to damage the Babri Masjid.
And then there's Maharashtra, where, thanks partly to Muslim mobilisation, the coalition headed by Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray's son, has bagged a majority of seats.
The alienation of the country's largest minority has temporarily at least, been stopped. That itself is reason to rejoice in the Lok Sabha results.
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com