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Indian Opposition Leader Rahul Gandhi Claims ‘Tectonic Shift’ After Modi’s Election U-turn
The Indian political landscape has undergone a “tectonic shift” following the unexpected results of this month’s elections and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government will “struggle” to survive, said Rahul Gandhi, the country’s most prominent opposition politician.
“The space in the Indian political system has been opened up,” Gandhi told the Financial Times in his first interview since the election in which the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party lost majority for the first time since Modi came to power in 2014. “There has been a tectonic shift in Indian politics.”
Modi took office last week, becoming India’s first prime minister since Jawaharlal Nehru to win a third consecutive term. But Indian political analysts have raised questions about the stability of their coalition, which will be the weakest in a decade, forcing the BJP to rely on smaller allied parties to maintain power.
O election The result saw the INDIA opposition alliance, led by Gandhi’s Indian National Congress party, perform much better than anticipated, winning 234 of the 543 seats in India’s lower house, against 293 for the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance. being named leader of the opposition in the new parliament, back at the center of Indian politics.
“The numbers are such that they are very fragile and the slightest disturbance can bring down the government,” Gandhi said. “Basically, an ally has to turn the other way.”
Gandhi he stated that there was “great discontent” within the Modi camp and that there were “people who are in contact with us” within it, but refused to give details.
During the campaign, Modi sought to capitalize on religious tensions, referring to India’s large Muslim minority as “infiltrators” and claiming that a Congress-led government would give up jobs and other “reservations” reserved for lower-caste Hindus.
Gandhi’s bloc, however, won votes among Dalits by playing on fears that the BJP would use a larger majority to change the constitution and deprive them of the benefits of affirmative action.
“The idea that you can spread hate, you can spread anger and you can reap the benefits of that – the Indian people have rejected it in this election,” said Gandhi, whose New Delhi office is decorated with portraits of independence hero Mahatma Gandhi. as well as former prime ministers Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, his great-grandfather, grandmother and father respectively.
“This is also why the coalition will struggle,” he added, “because what worked for Mr. Narendra Modi in 2014 and 2019 is not working.”
Gandhi also stated that under fairer conditions, the opposition INDIA alliance would have won a majority “without any doubt”. Before the vote, Gandhi and his allies accused Modi’s government of repression, with two state leaders arrested and some Congress bank accounts frozen.
“We fought with our hands tied behind our backs. . . and the Indians, the poor, knew exactly what they had to do,” he said.
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Indian politics has been dominated by the Congress and the Nehru-Gandhi clan for much of its post-independence history. But the party and India’s broader center-left have been widely seen as a declining force in recent years, with some critics saying the family’s dominance in Congress was an obstacle to its progress.
Gandhi stepped down as party president after the BJP’s decisive victory in the 2019 elections, but remained active in its affairs and continues to be its most prominent face.
The Congress was an easy target for the populist BJP due to its dynastic heritage and endemic corruption in its previous governments. Modi attacked Gandhi as a “shehzada” or privileged prince, and Indian media outlets, many of which are owned by Modi supporters or depend on them for publicity, have often portrayed him as an irresponsible and clumsy figure.
However, analysts said the opposition lawmaker took steps to rebuild his political brand with two yatras, or walks, across the country, first from south to north on foot and then from east to west by vehicle.
Images of Gandhi mingling with ordinary Indian citizens contrast with Modi, who cultivated a cult of personality not seen in Indian politics since Gandhi’s grandmother, Indira, and during the campaign claimed to have been sent by God.
“The judicial system, the media, the institutional framework – they have all been closed [for the opposition], and so we decided that we would have to do it literally and physically,” Gandhi said. “Many of the ideas that were successful in this election came from that journey – and they came not from us, but from the people of India.”
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Although the BJP lost only about a percentage point of its vote share, Gandhi and his allies won critical seats in the Hindu nationalist party’s northern heartland, including in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state.
These include the Faizabad constituency, where Modi presided in consecration of a Hindu temple in Ayodhya, at the site of a destroyed mosque, to launch his campaign.
Although Modi claimed in his victory speech that India’s 1.4 billion people had “regained their faith” in the BJP and the National Democratic Alliance, Gandhi said the ruling party had been “mortally wounded” by the verdict. of voters.
“Mr Modi’s idea and Mr Modi’s image have been destroyed,” Gandhi said. “The party that spent the last 10 years talking about Ayodhya was annihilated in Ayodhya.
“Essentially, what happened was that the basic architecture of the BJP – the idea of creating religious hatred – collapsed.”