NEW DELHI — India’s opposition party swept to victory in the country’s national election Friday, setting the stage for Hindu nationalist and economic reformer Narendra Modi to become India’s next prime minister.
Modi, 63, chief minister of the western state of Gujarat, ran an efficient months-long campaign, spreading his message of hope and revitalization at thousands of rallies across the country. Voters overwhelmingly chose his message of change, with the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies garnering well over the 272 seats needed for a clear majority in Parliament.
The “Modi wave,” as it was called, meant crushing defeat for the governing Congress Party and its 43-year-old scion, Rahul Gandhi, its chief campaigner.
Across the country, voters heading to the polls said they were unhappy with corruption scandals and ineffectual leadership after 10 years of Congress party rule under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
U.S. officials sent congratulations as they tried to smooth over past differences with India and with Modi.
“Congrats to @narendramodi and BJP,” Secretary of State John Kerry tweeted Friday. “Look forward to working w/you/growing shared prosperity/security w/world’s largest democracy.”
An ebullient Modi spoke at two victory rallies in his home state of Gujarat on Friday. He reveled in the mandate his party had achieved but pledged an inclusive government for a “shining India.”
“India’s social differences will come together and make a flag, just like different threads come together to weave a cloth,” Modi said. “People rose above caste rhetoric, a new foundation has been laid and will build a new shining India in the coming days.”
Modi, the son of a tea seller from one of India’s lower castes, grew visibly emotional when he spoke of the people of his home state, where he grew from a boy in a village to the four-term chief minister.
“You people of Gujarat are my mother and father. You have raised me. While I serve Mother India, I will also worry about you,” he said. “You are my energy, you are my inspiration, you are my strength.”
President Barack Obama called Modi on Friday, the White House said, and invited him to visit Washington at some point in the future.
The invitation marked an attempt to bury the hatchet with Modi. In 2005, Washington denied Modi a visa, alleging he was complicit in religious riots in 2002 that killed more than 1,000 Muslims.
India’s business community hopes Modi will be able to fulfill his promises to jump-start the economy and restart stalled infrastructure projects, but he faces steep challenges. In recent years, the country’s growth rate and job creation have dipped, inflation has skyrocketed, and investors have either sat on their money or taken it elsewhere.
Why it matters
The election that is sweeping Narendra Modi into the prime minister’s office has important implications beyond India’s borders:
Foreign investment: India, with a population of 1.2 billion, is among the four big developing countries — Brazil, Russia, India and China — and foreign investors have been pouring billions of dollars into Indian stocks and bonds in anticipation of a Modi victory.
Economy: Modi has campaigned on a promise of economic revival, and the resounding win Friday means he will be under pressure to deliver — and fast.
Tensions with Pakistan: India has a volatile border with Pakistan, and tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors are a matter of international concern.
Sectarian tensions: Perhaps most worrying for Modi’s critics are fears that his rise could worsen sectarian tensions between India’s majority Hindus and its 138 million Muslims. Modi has been haunted by allegations that he did nothing to stop communal riots in his home state of Gujarat in 2002 that killed 1,000 people, most of them Muslim.
The Associated Press
