When Modi was elected with a startling majority in 2014, the victory was seen both inside and outside the country as a welcome shift after years of coalition governments hamstrung by the need for extensive consensus-building. India would finally change, the narrative went, if one man had the power to make decisions. For investors and many friendly governments, Modi appeared to be a leader who could deliver a complicated country.
“India cuts Modi down,” blared the headline in my hometown Kolkata’s main newspaper, the Telegraph, after our all-powerful prime minister unexpectedly lost his majority on Tuesday. The opposition alliance, cunningly abbreviated INDIA, advanced to within 40 seats of claiming power in New Delhi. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party will need continued support from several restive regional parties in order to govern.
In much of India, there was an audible sigh of relief: Voters seem to have forced an end to a decade of single-minded and remote decision-making. Others will, naturally, be dismayed.
