New Delhi: In a clear indication of the setbacks and gains made by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi began his victory speech by chanting “Jai Jagannath” – in a nod to the assembly and Lok Sabha victories in Odisha – by forgoing “Jai Shree Ram” and entirely left out Uttar Pradesh, which handed his party its biggest loss in India’s largest state in a decade.
The BJP has won 240 seats, while the Congress has won 99.
Modi began his 34-minute speech by chanting “Bharat Mata ki Jai” and “Jai Jagannath” even as the crowd chanted “Jai Shree Ram”.
Despite making the Ram Temple a core campaign issue, the BJP’s sitting MP in Ayodhya which comes under the Faizabad constituency in Uttar Pradesh has been routed after a decade, and Awadhesh Prasad, a Dalit leader of the Samajwadi Party, has won.
Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty
The BJP is set to form its first state government in Odisha, where it has won 78 of the 147 seats in the assembly, with the incumbent Biju Janata Dal (BJD) down to 51 seats, and the Congress winning 14. The BJP’s victory in the state has ended over two decades of the Naveen Patnaik government in the state, which has been in power since 2000. While the state has voted in favour of the BJP in the 2014 and 2019 elections, in the 2024 elections the BJP has won 19 of the state’s 20 parliamentary seats, and the Congress one, with the BJD failing to win a single seat.
In his speech, Modi highlighted the leads in Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and Bihar along with the assembly elections gains in Arunachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim – but left out Uttar Pradesh where the party has seen massive losses.
“For the first time since 1962, a government has returned for the third time after completing its two terms. Wherever assembly elections were held in the country, NDA has got a grand victory, be it Arunachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha or Sikkim. And in these states Congress has been wiped out. I don’t have the details but maybe they haven’t been able to save their deposits,” he said.
“In Odisha, BJP is all set to form the government and in the Lok Sabha elections too Odisha has performed well. This will be the first time that Jagannath’s land will have a BJP CM. BJP has also won seats in Kerala. Our workers in Kerala have made many sacrifices. For many generations they have been fighting and doing seva. And for generations, not years, the moment they waited for has come today. In Telangana our tally has doubled. Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Himachal and many such states have seen a clean sweep by our party. I want to thank the voters of all these states along with the assembly voters of Arunachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha or Sikkim. I want to assure the people that the central government will do everything for their vikas. Under Chandrababu Naidu, NDA has performed well in Andhra Pradesh. In Bihar, NDA has performed very well under Nitish Kumar.”
No mention of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra
The most decisive change in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections has been in Uttar Pradesh, where the BJP had set itself a target of over 70 seats in order to reach its target of “400 paar”. In the 2019 elections it won 62 of the 80 seats in India’s most populous state. But the course of the 2024 elections changed, with the gains made by the INDIA alliance including the Samajwadi Party and the Congress in Uttar Pradesh.
In the final tally the NDA (BJP and RLD) won only 36 seats in comparison to the INDIA bloc’s 43 seats. The Samajwadi Party alone won 37 seats, while the BJP won 33, the Congress 6, RLD 2 and Apna Dal (Soneylal) 1, and Azad Samaj Party 1.
Modi did not mention Uttar Pradesh in his speech even once, neither did he say anything about how the BJP missed its ‘400 paar’ target and did not even reach the 303 seats that it had won on its own in 2019.
“Even though our opponents united, they could not win as many seats as BJP alone won in this Lok Sabha election,” he said.
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He also made no mention of Maharashtra, where despite having allied with the breakaway factions of the Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party, the NDA (called Mayayuti in the state) failed to take a lead.
While Maharashtra, the second largest state, saw party splits, name and symbol change, and raids by central investigating agencies, Mahavikas Aghadi (including the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar), and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray)) has won 30 out of the 48 seats in the state.
The only nod to Maharashtra in his speech came towards the end, when he said that the year would see Chhatrapati Shivaji’s 350th birth anniversary.
“Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj has been the guiding light for us and his 350th Birth Anniversary will earmark the same.”
Focus on welfare schemes and development
He soon swiftly moved on to highlighting the welfare schemes undertaken by his government in the last decade, including Har Ghar Nal se Jal, Awas Yojana, Ayushman Bharat and highlighted women-led development.
“10 years ago the country voted for change. That was the time when the country had sunk into the depths of despair. We were blessed with terms like Fragile Five, newspaper headlines were filled with scams every day, the country’s young generation became apprehensive about their future. Then the country entrusted us with the task of extracting pearls of hope from the deep ocean of despair. We all tried and worked with full sincerity. In 2024 we went to every corner of the country to seek blessings. Today for the third time NDA has received the blessings, I bow to the voters and the people of this country,” he said.
While his entire campaign after the second phase focused on communalism and misinformation targeting Indian Muslims, his victory speech focused on his government’s achievements and schemes.
“We always kept national interest first. When the Covid pandemic hit, we took decisions in the interest of the nation and people. We took steps by stepping away from all pressures. That is why India is the fastest growing economy in the world today. The sentiment of national interest will make India Viksit Bharat,” he said.
Making no mention of the continued targeting of Indian Muslims in his election campaign and alleging that the Congress would snatch the rights of SC/ST/OBCs and give them to Muslims, Modi said that he has worked for every section of society.
“We have worked for every section of the country. We have brought 25 crore people out of poverty and this includes a large number of SC/ST/OBC. We will not stop till poverty becomes a part of India’s history. Women-led development has been at the centre of our development. From sports, space to entrepreneurship we will give new opportunities to women.”
While the opposition had highlighted the Modi government’s attacks on the Indian Constitution and democracy and raised the spectre that if re-elected, they would change the Constitution, Modi said that his victory was one for Indian democracy and the Constitution and also thanked the Election Commission of India. The poll body had faced repeated questions over its partisan conduct during the course of the elections.
“Today’s victory is the victory of Indian democracy and the faith in the Indian Constitution. It is a victory for Viksit Bharat and the mantra of Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas. This is a victory for 140 crore Indians. Today I want to thank the Election Commission of India. The Election Commission conducted the world’s biggest election successfully,” he said.
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While Modi and the BJP have consistently attacked India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, he has now equalled his record in winning a third consecutive term.
“It is a historic mandate that people have given after six decades by bestowing a 3rd term for the NDA,” he said.
While he made little mention of development initiatives, issues of the economy and farmers in his campaign, in his victory speech Modi said that his third term, “India will emerge as the pillar of strength for the world.”
“India’s next era will be a ‘Green era’ enabling Green Industrialisation.’”
He reiterated that India will emerge as the third largest economy, a promise his government has made before including in its manifesto, and will also excel in the domain of space exploration like it did during the Chhandrayaan-3 mission and be responsible for the stability and diversity of the global supply chain.
“India will emerge as the pillar of strength for the world,” he said.
