"Modi's Wobble"; How Foreign Media Reported BJP's Electoral Debacle (image@BJP4India)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi might return to power, but with a wobble. As the counting of the votes started, it was quickly clear that he is going to lead, but that was all to it. The glory of humongous vote share enjoyed by the Bharatiya Janata Party during the last two general election was lost. The party had to ally with other minor parties to at least stand on two feet, let alone on full height.

The BJP-led NDA (National Democratic Alliance) emerged as the largest coalition surpassing the 272 seats’ threshold needed to form the government. However, the BJP did not achieve their target of 400 seats with allies and 370 seats independently. As per the official report of the Election Commission of India (ECI), BJP has secured only 240 seats, a stark steep to what it has garnered during the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha election.

International media has been keeping a close watch on the Indian General Election. It was widely agreed that Narendra Modi’s path to next term will not be easy and the brute majority is already lost.

Washington Post reported the result as an “unexpected repudiation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi”, and also noted the “tepid support for his Hindu nationalist party, piercing the air of invincibility around the most dominant Indian politician in decades”.

The American national daily further stated that, “Such a result would be a rare setback for an Indian politician who has never failed to secure a majority in state or national elections over a 23-year political career and cultivated an image as a popular strongman and a serial winner. Most analysts expected him to easily brush aside India’s enervated and poorly funded opposition parties, some of which had their bank accounts frozen, and their leaders jailed by the government in the run-up to the election”.

New York Times, gave their headline as, “India’s Election Results Suggest a Setback for Modi”. It said the “aura of invincibility around Narendra Modi has been shattered…Bharatiya Janata Party was poised to lose its parliamentary seat in Ayodhya on Tuesday. It was part of a sweeping electoral setback across Uttar Pradesh state, India’s most populous, where early results showed the B.J.P. was set to fall nearly 30 seats short of its tally in the last general election in 2019”.

BBC called the result a “personal blow to Mr Modi”, who always managed enjoy huge majority both as the Chief Minister of Gujarat and as India’s Prime Minister. The British media noted that “the verdict marks a surprising revival for the Congress Party-led INDIA opposition alliance, defying earlier predictions of its decline, and sharply diverging from both exit polls and pre-election surveys”. It further added, “Supporters claim he is a strong, efficient leader who has delivered on promises. Critics allege his government has weakened federal institutions, cracked down on dissent and press freedom, and that India’s Muslim minority feels threatened under his rule”.

Another British media, Financial Times headlined an article as “India election strips Narendra Modi of his ‘aura of invincibility””. It commented that “the results would be a return to coalition politics. Many Indians had expected a clear Modi victory in an election seen as a referendum on his decade in office and a campaign focused largely on his personality”. One headline in FT featured: “Narendra Modi’s wobble in India leaves the status quo in question”.

“Indian voters deliver shock to Modi after ruling BJP fails to win Majority,” another FT headline read.

Al Jazeera’s headline was, “Modi-led BJP loses majority in big setback”. The Qatar bases media outlet mentioned that “Modi and his party are still likely to be able to form India’s next government — but will be dependent on a clutch of allies whose support they will need to cross the 272-seat mark. The BJP with its allies, in a coalition known as the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), was projected to win around 282 seats…”

Al Jazeera said that Modi will face challenges in the Parliament, as there will be bills to pass, which will major compromises. In the past, when he had a brute majority, he would not be compromising. He always projected himself as somebody very strong who will not compromise,” it further said.