Narendra Modi Again Wins India’s Gigantic Election

After a mammoth six-week election in which over 600 million people voted, Modi’s Hindu nationalist party made a landslide victory, which has secured Modi’s another five-year term as Indian Prime Minister.
Election results show Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured and its allies won close to 350 seats in parliament and the main opposition Congress party, which is headed by Rahul Gandhi’s, has admitted defeat.
Mr. Modi said: “This victory will be an inspiration for generations in the country. Crores [tens of millions] of Indians have blessed us, my gratitude to the people.
“This is the highest voter turnout since Independence, even in adverse weather conditions. I congratulate the Election Commission for conducting smooth elections in such a big democracy.

“I have been saying that no party or candidate is fighting the polls but the people of India are. If anybody has won, it is the people of India. This is the biggest event in any democracy in the world.”
Mr. Modi, 68, is in power since he won the first term in 2014. Many Indians praise his efforts to stamp out corruption and bring development to poor regions, but his commitment to empowering the nation’s Hindu majority has raised fears in its Muslim minority.
So crushing was the defeat of Congress that the grandson and great-grandson of two Indian prime ministers, Mr. Gandhi lost the seat in Amethi that his family had held for decades.
Mr. Gandhi has asked Ms. Irani to nurture Amethi “with love”. He also said “We concede in this election that Narendra Modi and the B.J.P. have won” and it was not the right time to discuss why Congress lost.
“Today is the day that a new prime minister has been elected, and today is the day to wish him the best, and hopefully he will look after the interests of the country,” he said.
Professor Santosh Kumar Rai, of Delhi University, said: “Certainly a second term means an ideological victory. Law, education, and culture will be the major areas expecting a paradigm shift. Foreign and Finance policies will continue as they are going on now.”
>Juthy Saha