India’s triumphant Hindu nationalists declared “a new era” in the world’s biggest democracy yesterday after leader Narendra Modi propelled them to a stunning win, promising to revitalize the sickly economy.
Preliminary results at the end of the marathon six-week election showed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by Indian prime ministerial candidate Modi on track for the first parliamentary majority by a single party in 30 years.
Most of the poverty-wracked country’s 1.2 billion people have never witnessed such dominance having grown up in an era of fractious coalition politics. Modi, the 63-year-old son of a tea seller tainted by anti-Muslim riots in his home state of Gujarat in 2002, wrote on Twitter that “India has won. Good days are coming.”
The stunning results exceeded all forecasts. Firecrackers exploded at BJP offices around the country, sweets were handed out to celebrate and painted elephants paraded in front of party headquarters. The triumph redraws India’s political map, elevating the BJP to a pan-national power, handing Modi a huge mandate for change and heaping humiliation on the ruling Gandhi political dynasty.
The immediate change Modi will need to deliver is an improvement in the economy, which is growing at its slowest rate in a decade, and his commitment to the BJP’s Hindu nationalist agenda will be closely watched by India’s 150 million Muslims.
“It is dawn of a new era. The lotus has bloomed all over India now,” BJP President Rajnath Singh said, referring to the flower symbol of his party whose previous all-time high was 182 seats in 1999.
“I appeal to my workers that even in this historic victory they maintain discipline and calm, against any section or people,” he added, hinting at the fears of religious tensions.
Preliminary figures from the Election Commission showed the BJP winning more than the 272 seats required for a majority on its own in the 543-seat parliament, with victories by its allies taking it easily in excess of 330.
The Congress Party, the national secular force that has run India for all but 13 years since independence, was set to crash to its worst ever result after a decade in power.
“Modi promised the moon and stars to the people. People bought that dream,” senior Congress leader and spokesman Rajeev Shukla told reporters as preliminary results showed the party winning only 42 seats.
Outgoing Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who said in January that Modi would be “disastrous for the country” after “presiding over the massacre of innocents,” called to congratulate him, his office said.
India’s Bombay Stock Exchange index surged more than 6 percent in the morning, but tapered its gains to close up 0.9 percent.
Investors and the wider public have rediscovered heady — many say unrealistic — optimism about the world’s second-most populous nation after years of frustration about weak leadership, rising food prices and corruption.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft