New Delhi: Modi has declared “the start of a new era” in the world’s biggest democracy on Friday as the ruling Congress conceded defeat in elections that exposed anger about sickly economic growth and rampant corruption.
Preliminary results and media projections at the climax of the marathon six-week election showed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its leader Narendra Modi on track for the first parliamentary majority by a single party in 30 years. Modi, wrote on Twitter that “India has won. Good days are coming.”
The stunning results exceeded all forecasts. Firecrackers exploded at BJP offices around the country and sweets were handed out in celebrations that began only a few hours after the first figures filtered out.
The Congress party, the national secular force that has run India for all but 13 years since independence, was set to crash to its worst ever result after a decade in power. “We accept defeat. We are ready to sit in the opposition,” senior Congress leader and spokesman Rajeev Shukla told reporters at party headquarters in New Delhi as preliminary results showed it winning only 49 seats. “Modi promised the moon and stars to the people. People bought that dream,” he added.
The disastrous showing for Congress is another blow to the scion of the Gandhi dynasty, 43-year-old Rahul, whose first performance as chief campaigner will likely lead to acrimonious fallout. The country’s most illustrious political family has provided three prime ministers but preliminary results showed Rahul with only a wafer-thin lead in his constituency of Amethi.
Modi’s promises to revive the flagging economy have won him corporate cheerleaders, while his rags-to-riches story and reputation as a clean and efficient administrator satisfy many Indians’ desire for strong leadership.
(With AFP inputs)