Modi Sarkaar, The Sequel

Dear Reader,

As it is the last Sunday of the month I would normally write a summary of what I have written in the past month.

However today I want to do something a little different. Because this week something very special has happened.

The results for the General Elections in India were declared and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lead Non-Democratic Alliance (NDA) have won. The BJP won 303 out of the 545 seats of the Lok Sabha (People’s Assembly) and the NDA as a whole won 354 seats. The Lok Sabha is the lower house of the Indian Parliament the members of which are directly elected by the people. The upper house is the Rajya Sabha the members of which are indirectly elected from the State Legislatures.

This is the first time that an incumbent government that is not ruled by the Congress has returned to power in history. This is also the biggest victory in the General Elections since 1984 when the Congress returned to power with more than 400 seats.

Why has this happened? This is what I wanted to answer today by doing a 360 Degrees Analysis.

Leftist Analysis

Leftism mainly believes in the following: Socialism, a peaceful foreign policy and cultural change.

The BJP passed Acts like the Mental Healthcare Act which was a welfare act that gave citizens access to mental healthcare for free from government hospitals. This Act is a leftist Act.

It followed an aggressive foreign policy of launching surgical strikes into Pakistan in response to terrorist attacks. This was not a leftist policy.

It passed a law banning the slaughter of cattle in India. This is an Act that seeks to preserve the cultural tradition of protecting cows in India. This is not a leftist Act.

Therefore we can say that while it was economically leftist, it was not so on the foreign policy and cultural spheres. Therefore the BJP government from 2014 to 2019 was only a third leftist.

Therefore leftists can only claim partial credit for the BJP’s victory.

Rightist Analysis

Rightism mainly believes in the following: Capitalism, an aggressive foreign policy and cultural preservation.

The BJP repealed laws that imposed several regulations on businesses. This was a capitalist policy.

The BJP also had an aggressive foreign policy against Pakistan and China (but less aggressive towards China).

The BJP passed laws to preserve Indian culture.

All of these are right-wing policies. Therefore we can say that BJP government was completely rightist.

Therefore, rightists can claim credit for the BJP’s victory.

Authoritarian Analysis

The authoritarians believe the following . It must control the economy, intervene in the internal affairs of foreign countries and force its cultural values onto the populace.

The BJP government by removing regulations has reduced the government’s control over the economy.

It has not intervened in the internal affairs of foreign countries.

It however has forced its cultural values on the populace, but only slightly, such as banning cow slaughter, and attempting to criminalise triple-talaq.

Therefore we can say that the BJP government is only slightly authoritarian.

Hence, the authoritarians can claim only partial credit for the BJP’s victory.

Libertarian Analysis

Libertarianism mainly believes in the following: That the State must not control the economy, must not intervene in the internal affairs of foreign countries and must not impose its cultural values on the populace.

The BJP government reduced the State’s control over the economy.

It did not interfere in the internal affairs of foreign countries.

It however did impose its cultural values on the populace.

Therefore we can say that the BJP government is largely libertarian and slightly authoritarian.

Therefore the libertarians can claim most of the credit for the BJP’s victory.

From the above analysis we can see that the BJP government was mainly a right-wing libertarian government and only slightly leftist authoritarian in nature.

The people of India voted for Modi again. Therefore they must have appreciated his policies. His foreign policy was right-wing and libertarian, his economic policy was mainly right-wing but also slightly left-wing but his social policies were right-wing and authoritarian.

Hence, we the credit for his victory can be shared across the political spectrum, but is mainly cornered by the right-wing libertarians.

This goes to show that although the BJP is portrayed by the media as a right-wing party, the reality is more complicated.

Thank you for reading