The Republic Of Modi

A decisive majority has given Narendra Modi the mandate to reshape the agenda and future of India. But with great power comes great expectation. And he needs to meet them with speed, strength and sensitivity

- Raj Chengappa

Narendra Modi was busy answering routine emails on his computer on the morning of May 23 when the counting of votes began. He seemed unmindful of the outcome and the history that he was about to script. It was only around 10.30 am that he checked with an aide and listened stoically to the leading positions of various parties. His aides have become accustomed to the supreme calm with which he deals with triumph and adversity. The prime minister often quotes to them his favourite shloka from the Bhagavad Gita: (You have a right only to your action, not to its outcome. Let not your action be motivated by its results, nor should you get attached to inaction.) Right through the election campaign, Modi would tell those who worked with him that more than winning, it was a spiritual journey for him—as a karmayogi.

As the results started pouring in, it soon became evident that Modi had powered the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to a historic second term in government with an absolute majority greater than what the party had got in 2014. Not since Indira Gandhi’s back-to-back majority mandates in the 1966 and 1971 general elections had such a feat been accomplished. Modi looked satisfied, but was aware that with great power comes great expectation. He told his aides that the responsibility for him to get things done had increased substantially and they needed to execute them with greater speed. Showing his awareness for minutiae, he also told them it was time to drop the chowkidar from his Twitter handle and those of his party colleagues and discussed what he should tweet.