Bihar elections have had a magical impact on Prime Minister Modi, who has looked less confident since the 2024 parliamentary elections.
Then, the BJP-led NDA was expecting to win more than 400 seats but struggled to have majority numbers in the Lok Sabha. The BJP had to be satisfied with a humiliating 240 seats.
The Prime minister’s victory margin also astonishingly shrunk in Varanasi. It was widely speculated that Modi was no longer the leader he was known to be, but then the BJP did magnificently well in every election it contested after the general elections, except in Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir.
It snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in Haryana. It vanquished Maha Vikas Aghadi in Maharashtra, along with its allies. It was believed that the Maharashtra assembly elections would be a cakewalk for the Congress-led opposition. After these two states, the BJP wrested Delhi from Machiavellian Arvind Kejriwal with comfortable numbers. And now Bihar.
The Prime Minister also had a tough time since the Pahalgam blast. He was severely criticised for agreeing to a ceasefire with Pakistan after Operation Sindoor had taught the Pakistan army a strong lesson.
The sudden announcement of a ceasefire caused a huge disappointment even in his own ideological front. US President Trump did not lose any opportunity to embarrass him with his jibes.
The government did try to counter him, but the opposition constantly asked why the Prime Minister was not replying to him. India also found itself isolated at the global fora. Then Rahul Gandhi attacked Modi as well as the election commission about the alleged ‘vote chori’.
As far as the Bihar elections were concerned, every political observer claimed that it would be a photo finish. But the NDA getting more than 200 seats is a myth-making victory. For PM Modi, more satisfying is the BJP’s strike rate. The BJP won 89 seats out of 101 seats it contested.
Even the Mahagathbandhan leaders are finding it hard to believe. An almost 88% strike rate for a political party in any election is unheard of, unprecedented, and historic. It is because of this reason that it is being talked about in a hushed tone that the BJP might like to have a chief minister of its own this time.
After the stupendous victory, political observers are undoubtedly raving about Nitish Kumar, and it is widely said that even after being at the helm of affairs for almost 20 years, Nitish is most surprisingly not unpopular, and there was hardly any anti-incumbency against his government.
But let’s not forget that in 2020, when the JDU was much weakened and Nitish was demoralised with only 43 seats, the BJP, led by Modi, let Nitish continue as the chief minister. Modi was reading the political reality right and was not tempted to unsettle Nitish, even after Nitish deserted him in between and aligned with INDIA, but later, when he desired to be back in the NDA tent, he was more than welcome.
Nitish paid him back after the parliamentary election and was not tempted to experiment and move back to INDIA. His MPs solidly supported a weakened Modi as prime minister.
The mutual respect for each other was the cementing force between the two tall leaders. Even during the elections, despite a little uncertainty about Nitish not being projected as the CM face as Tejasvi was, Modi did not give any hint that he was searching for an alternate face if NDA were to get a majority after the elections.
It is true that even Amit Shah was not willing to open his cards on the issue. He was categorical that MLAs would elect the leader. It shows that Modi’s guile as a strategist and his understanding of Bihar politics dictated that he should continue with, and finally results proved him right.
Therefore, along with Nitish, Modi should also get the credit for the amazing victory. And it is this victory which has given him a new confidence, and he was a different person when he addressed party workers at the party headquarters in Delhi.
The Prime Minister’s brutal attack on Congress, calling it Muslim League Maovadi Party (MMC), is the reflection of this new confidence. He even went to the extent of saying that the Congress might split. It is to be seen if it was just rhetoric to ridicule Rahul Gandhi or if he has something up his sleeve.
The Prime Minister’s new body language is bad news for the opposition. Those who were imagining that Modi is not the same leader he used to be before general elections, have to watch out. Modi is not the person who easily forgets insults hurled at him.
Rahul Gandhi had been ruthlessly attacking him. He called him ‘Narender Surrender’. He accused him of stealing elections along with the EC. Let’s not forget Rahul Gandhi had to lose his parliamentary membership and was interrogated for more than 50 hours by the ED.
With Bihar in BJP’s pocket, now Mamata Banerjee should be worried. Modi will marshal all his resources to unseat her, which he failed to do in 2021. Modi also knows that it was the collective might of INDIA that deprived him of majority numbers in 2024; therefore, now he might like to ensure INDIA is disunited.
Along with the opposition, he would like to tighten his control over the BJP, and after Bihar, he would like to have a new party president in place of JP Nadda, someone of his own choice, which has been pending for almost two years due to RSS resistance. Undeniably, from now on, Modi’s move will be keenly watched.
The writer is Co-Founder, SatyaHindi.com, and author of Hindu Rashtra. He tweets at @ashutosh83B