The verdict in the Gujarat Assembly elections was a forgone conclusion. Narendra Modi once again won a thumping victory. It was his third triumph in a row and the sixth defeat for the Opposition. Modi had gone all out to win and he made it without difficulty. Of course, he had to fight not merely the Congress but also its Left fellow travellers and deserters from his own party along with functionaries of the Sangh parivar. What contributed most to his victory were aspirations combined with regional assertion. The results in Gujarat will have an undoubted impact on politics at the Centre. Modi’s pitch for the office of Prime Minister is apparent. His campaign was addressed to the national stage. The target was unmistakably the Congress high command. When he romped in, he made it clear that his eyes were on Delhi. The Bharatiya Janata Party will have to decide now whether he should be its leader in the coming Parliamentary elections. True, Modi is not always exactly popular with the top echelons of his own party. In Gujarat, however, he has made short work of the Opposition in his party and consolidated his position. He has even developed a personality cult around him. The BJP is currently in bitter controversy over the leadership issue. Modi has no respect for the opposition inside his party and is out to prevail over it.
Other questions arise about the national scene apart from the complicated factor of BJP leadership. India is no longer attached to the hegemonizing political system. No all-India cleavage developed in the 1990s over the backward caste assertion. The politics of Hindutva did not do so either. The national political scenario is not as one-directional as the one in Gujarat. Political ideas crash and regional mobilizations raise obstacles. Minority concerns are far from negligible. Narendra Modi could not have endeared himself to the minorities with the Ahemedabad massacre in 2002. His climb to the top will not be as smooth as his achieving undisputed ascendancy in his own state.