Hate-mongering, divisive politics, religious vigilantes, and minority lynching are the big blots on the so-called biggest democracy of the world. From changing Muslim demography in IOK to changing the Mughal names of Allahabad to Pryagraaj, the Hindutva ideology didn’t work for the radical BJP in their own backyards like Uttar Pradesh and Narendra Modi faced a sharp decline in the recent elections of Lok Sabha, so much so that the party had to go for a coalition, resulting in formation of a concrete opposition and a non-bullet proof government. Whispers of mid-term elections are already blowing across the country.

As he failed to get the sweeping majority he promised his voters, Narendra Modi will now have to join a coalition to form the government, which means he and his radical party fail to fulfill the tall claim of “AB KI BAAR, CHAAR SAU PAAR.” Rather than achieving an absolute majority, Modi’s BJP slipped down in many constituencies, including the defeat in Faizabad, Ayodhya, the so-called launchpad used by the party to influence the religious sentiments of Hindus.

Along with hate policies, stoking religious tensions, eroding human rights, and muzzling the press, surging inflation and rising unemployment rates were also major reasons behind the failure.

However, Modi will serve another term as Prime Minister of India with a significantly reduced majority. BJP has failed to win a clear majority after a six-week-long parliamentary election. Far from winning the supermajority of 400 seats it had promised, the BJP won 240 out of 543 seats in the lower house of India’s Parliament, according to final results.

Modi aimed and claimed to win more than 400 out of 543 seats of the LOK SABHA, the National Assembly; instead, his party lost worse than the last two elections. Support for Modi dropped in the crucial constituency of UTTER PRADESH, India’s most populous state. The Congress-led alliance made roads in the heart of BJP, where the radical CM Yogi Aditya Nath implemented the Hindutva policy with brute force.

Modi led a divisive election campaign, targeting Muslims, calling them infiltrators, and erasing their heritage. This, along with discontent among the youth, has been termed the main reason for the BJP’s setbacks. Unemployment has risen to 8.1%, a jump from 6% recorded pre-pandemic, and the fastest-growing economy seems to leave out many. That anger showed on June 4. Modi won the seat, but his margin dramatically slashed, from 480,000 votes in 2019 to 152,000 this time. Many of the constituencies near Varanasi, which the BJP had hoped to win riding on Modi’s presence in the city, went to the INDIA alliance.

It was only in January that Modi inaugurated the Hindu temple on the infamous raised-to-ground Babri Masid site in the northern city of Ayodhya, stirring fear among India’s Muslim minority and rubbing salt in their wounds, haunting them with the horrific scenes of 1992. For Modi, it was a crowning moment expected to help him win favor with voters in Hindu-majority India as he sought a rare third term and a supermajority for his party in an election this year that was widely predicted to be a landslide.

But all that TEMPLE RUN didn’t go in favour of the extremist party, as early vote counting showed a far narrower result that was a shocking rebuke to Modi’s rule, the constituency that includes Ayodhya was among those the BJP conceded to the opposition. The claims of winning the Hindu hearts felt flat as the locals were unhappy with the revamp of the city. The promise of cleaning Ganges’s banks remains as dirty as the banks were, and the unemployment in the state has forced many graduates to become boatmen.

The youth’s discontent with the “AGNIVEER” policy also didn’t favor the BJP. The shortened service and no-pension policy ignited the flare among the unemployed youth.

From introducing the controversial NRC marginalizing Muslims to lynching them publicly in the name of hurting religious sentiments, the butcher of Gujrat followed his reputation by pushing Muslims along with Dalits and other minorities to the wall, stripping them of their basic rights. Tyrant decisions like sabotaging Article 370, depriving Kashmiris of their special status, and making Valley a jail by imposing an almost year-long curfew, Modi called it the fulfilling the dream of AKHAND BHARAT.

Slicing it in three halves, Modi thought changing the demography would benefit them in the long run. But all these extremist appeasing activities didn’t pave for single party majority for BJP. Sheikh Abdul Rashid, a former state legislator in Indian-occupied Kashmir and staunch opponent of Modi, won a seat in the region with more than 200,000 votes from inside the jail.

The overconfidence led to this defeat as well, the party thought they can do anything, change names of historical places, roads and monuments, and get away with it. The extensive use of paid GODI media, propagation of hate speech, and declaring Modi as some demi-God all didn’t play well for the party. In conclusion, the fear of change in the constitution, crushing Hindutva policies, changes in army recruitment policies, rising inflation, exaggerated pride, and divisive/hate politics are the reasons why Modi’s extremist party falls well short of its400-cross brag. The situation shows that the future of the world’s biggest democracy seems not-so-bright.