New Delhi: India on Tuesday voted in a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance for a third term in a row as they won 293 Lok Sabha seats. While wishes continue to pour in from across the world for PM Modi and the NDA, here’s how the global media reported the event:
‘Indian election delivers stunning setback to Modi and his party’: The Washington Post
It called India’s Lok Sabha election results 2024 as determined by Indian voters to be an “unexpected repudiation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership.” Calling it a “stunning setback to Modi and his party,” the Post stated that the results pierced the “aura of invincibility around the most dominant Indian politician in decades.”
“For the first time in years, Modi seemed vulnerable,” the Post highlighted.
‘Modi loses parliamentary majority in Indian election’: The Guardian
“… it was clear that the landslide for the BJP predicted in polls had not materialised and instead there had been a pushback against the strongman prime minister and his Hindu nationalist politics in swathes of the country.” It described how the results stood as an “unexpected blow” to PM Modi.
The BJP sensed a “sign of nervousness” during the election campaign and “turned to more polarising religious rhetoric,” it wrote. It also pointed out the resilience and the success of the Opposition INDIA bloc, which grappled with frozen “party funds and jailed opposition leaders in the buildup to the polls.”
‘India’s Modi claims victory as he heads for reduced majority’: BBC
Stating that the PM was headed for a reduced majority in the Lok Sabha elections this year, the BBC stated, “the election was seen by many as a referendum on Mr Modi’s decade in office, during which he has transformed many aspects of life in India, so this would be a major upset.”
BBC reporters described the mood in BJP offices around the country as “sombre.” The report also acknowledged the fight put up by the Opposition parties against the BJP. “The BJP and its rivals fought a fierce – at times vitriolic – campaign, with the prime minister denying that he was being divisive when he was accused by rivals of demonising Muslims,” it stated.
‘Needing Help to Stay in Power, Modi Loses His Aura of Invincibility’: The New York Times
The New York Times started its report by noting, “Suddenly, the aura of invincibility around Narendra Modi has been shattered.”
Terming the results as “unexpectedly sobering,” the NYT noted that they were a “sharp reversal a decade into Mr. Modi’s transformational tenure.”
