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India’s parliamentary election ends myth of invincibility of Modi

13 June 2024

The results of one of the most important parliamentary elections in the history of India show a resounding setback for the ruling BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) regime. Given the numbers, the NDA (National Democratic Alliance) coalition, led by Modi, was always likely to form the new government but that does not diminish the message of the mandate. In the run up to elections it was publicised that BJP would win more than 400 out of 544 seats. Exit polls too predicted big win. Notwithstanding such hype the BJP lost sixty-three seats, wining only 240 seats, thirty-two short of a majority. The NDA coalition, led by the BJP, still secured a majority but fell short of three hundred seats. For the opposition coalition, INDIA (The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance), the gains were significant. Far surpassing expectations, it won 233 seats. The myth of invincibility of Modi is broken. Beyond immediate factors, such a major mandate deserves broader analysis. read more

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Kashmir crisis: Attack on democratic rights must be opposed

6 August 2019

Joint statement from New Socialist Alternative (Indian section of CWI) and CWI supporters in Pakistan.

The ruling BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) regime in India has once again displayed its contempt and aversion to basic values of democracy. During the past week this regime had been increasing its armed forces to the tune of 35,000 in the already militarised Kashmir valley, (which is estimated to have half a million Indian Army forces) citing bogus threats. This regime wilfully created a terror panic to clear tourists and students in the valley. This blatant abuse of power was only the tip of what had been in store. read more

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Video: Way forward for the Indian Working Class

2 June 2019

The unprecedented second-time victory of Modi with an increased vote share and mandate has indeed put all the progressive forces in India on a back-foot. Though there is complete disarray among the left in general and Communist parties in particular, nevertheless Indian working class which has a heroic history of struggles both for their own advancement and for the society as a whole has to put this temporary electoral defeat in perspective, especially from an internationalist Marxist point of view and march forward in a united struggle to defeat not only Modi and Hindutva, but Capitalism & Landlordism as a whole. read more

Analysis

Modi victory underlines need for real socialist fight-back

28 May 2019

Macho Nationalism v/s Fragile Democracy

 Prime Minister, Narendra Modi and his party have scored a second general election victory. It has stunned pundits and political analysts across the board. Given the tumultuous period of the last five years under Modi’s style of governance, it was expected that at these 2019 elections the BJP would find it difficult to sell its divisive ‘saffron’ agenda based on reactionary Hindutva ideology.

Of the 900 million electorate across India, voters have in fact boosted their support for the BJP to 38 per cent, resulting in 303 seats, compared with 31 per cent of the popular vote in 2014 and the 282 seats.

Unprecedentedly, the BJP has got more than half of the votes polled in at least 13 states – 69 per cent in Himachal Pradesh, 62 per cent in Gujarat, 60 per cent in Uttarakhand, 58.5 per cent in Rajasthan, 58 per cent in Madhya Pradesh, 58 per cent in Haryana, 57 per cent in Delhi, 51.4 per cent in Karnataka, 51 per cent in Uttar Pradesh and 51 per cent in Jharkhand.

Narendra Modi is the first prime minister to return to power winning a bigger vote share for the party and enjoying a full single-party majority in the Lok Sabha parliament since Jawaharlal Nehru’s victory in 1957! Back then, Nehru’s Congress improved its vote share by 2.79 percentage points over its 1951-52 polls.

Unstable democracy read more