India: Modi will govern India again but with the alliance of other parties

Narendra Modi will be inaugurated on Sunday for a third term. the head of the Indian government, after tighter than expected results in the legislative elections which forced his party to ;agrave; negotiate with other groups to stay in power.

Indian President Droupadi Murmu will “take the oath of office to the Prime Minister and other members of the Union Council of Ministers on June 9, 2024 at 7:15 p.m. (1:45 p.m. GMT)”, the presidency announced in a statement broadcast Friday evening.

“I am very lucky that you elected me as head of the NDA (the National Democratic Alliance, which brings together 15 parties, editor’s note), with total consensus,” Narendra Modi had previously declared during a meeting in Parliament which brought together nearly 300 deputies from this coalition on Friday.

“A majority is essential to lead the country, it is the very essence of democracy. But, to lead a country, consensus is also essential,” he added.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 4, 2024, in New Delhi, India © AFP – Money SHARMA

The National Democratic Alliance had already announced at the end of the day on Wednesday an agreement to form a government and to have “unanimously chosen the respected leader” of 73 years as “leader”.

Having 293 of the 543 seats in Parliament, the NDA holds an absolute majority.

– Concessions unknown –

“I thank the people for giving the NDA government a third chance to serve them,” Mr. Modi said on Friday. “It is an opportunity and the expression of the will of the people and I thank them with all my heart for this opportunity,” he added.

Previously, he had thanked the deputies of his coalition for having unanimously supported his reappointment in office. This meeting was only a formality, the leaders of these parties having already expressed their support earlier this week.

It was also an opportunity to display the concord between Mr. Modi and his new partners in the government.

His party, the BJP, has not revealed what concessions were granted to other members of the alliance to ensure their support but several major parties have notably sought to obtain important ministerial portfolios.

For Chandrababu Naidu, at the head of the most important among them, the Telugu Desam (TDP), “today India has the right leader at the right time, that is, Narendra Modi”, while leaders of other parties have parried this last of a garland of purple flowers.

– Dependence –

The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has governed for the past ten years with an absolute majority, was expecting another landslide victory.

But the results published Tuesday of a vote held over six weeks showed that he no longer had such a majority, which forced him to negotiate with a group of 15 parties to obtain the number of parliamentarians necessary to govern.

Mr Modi's reliance on a coalition means his third term could prove much more difficult than expected, the Indian press noted.

According to the Indian Express newspaper on Friday, the Telugu Desam, which holds 16 seats, is putting pressure on to relaunch a project to build a new capital in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.

The Janata Dal (United) in the state of Bihar, another ally, has called for a review of a controversial military recruitment program that the government had designed in 2022 to reduce military spending.

Despite the unity displayed by the coalition members, these new alliances could be sources of friction in the future, political analyst Zoya Hasan of Jawaharlal Nehru University.

TDP President “Chandrababu Naidu and Nitish Kumar (head of Janata Dal) are both cunning politicians. So in a way, Modi might find in them partners to his measure”, estimates Ms. Hasan.

– New chapter –

Tuesday, while as his supporters celebrated the event across the country, Mr. Modi asserted that the election results would allow him to pursue his program.

“This third term will be the major decisions. The country will write a new chapter in its development, I guarantee it,” he exclaimed to a jubilant crowd in the capital, New Delhi.

<. p>Commentators had predicted a landslide victory for Mr. Modi, accused by his detractors of imprisoning opposition figures and violating the rights of India's Muslim community, which numbers more than 200 million people.

But the BJP got 240 seats in Parliament, far fewer than the 303 it won five years ago.

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