India has delivered a historic electoral verdict in favor of the BJP, and its leader Narendra Modi. After 1984, it is the first time that a political party has gained a majority in Lok Sabha on its own. The clear mandate to the BJP is an epochal one, because for the first-time a political party that represents India’s cultural nationalism has obtained the unequivocal seal of approval from the Indian masses.
Equally important is the complete rout of the Congress Party. The year 2014, is as historically significant as 1920, when Gandhi took over the leadership of the Indian freedom movement, and 1947, when Nehru took control of free India’s destiny. Year 2014 represents the eclipse of both, the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty and the Indian National Congress. Future politics in India will swing between the BJP and a non-BJP formation, the latter representing disparate socialist and regional forces. Congress may survive as a minor feudatory of left-oriented formations, but it is very unlikely they would regain their polarity in Indian politics. This epochal change has come from down under, from the struggling masses aspiring for livelihood with dignity and not hand-outs from the government, which has been masterly channelized by the BJP led by Narendra Modi, into an electoral tsunami.
As soon as the results were announced world leaders called up Modi to congratulate, including President Obama. This is a good early indicator of what is in store for Indo-U.S. relationship. Amit Shah, a key BJP strategist, in a recent TV interview defined two vital parameters for BJP’s conduct of foreign policy, samman aur suraksha (respect and security). The BJP is expected to recalibrate India’s foreign relations incorporating these two vital parameters. While the latter is a more technical matter, it is the former, the respect factor, which has an emotional dimension to contend with. Perhaps Shah was hinting at the recent Khobragade episode, but also the larger hint is at the issue of visa denial to Modi. These are two prominent episodes that lay bare on the vortex of samman, one in recent memory, but the other more personal which directly impacts the incoming prime minister. Even though BJP officials have skirted the issue by saying that “individual incidents cannot influence foreign policy” but human affairs are conducted by real humans and not robots. The issue of visa denial to Modi will be a huge factor in Indo-U.S. relationship, no matter how hard the two sides try to brush it under the carpet. Amit Shah has already tabled the samman imperative, now it is the turn of U.S. to make amends. A good beginning would be for the U.S. Government to institute an internal State Department inquiry into the whole episode as it happened ten years ago and fix responsibility. Since President Obama has already invited Modi to visit the USA, the State Department now has no legal or moral case to deny entry. And if there is no case today, then obviously there was no case back in 2005. Such an inquiry will go a long way in redeeming the samman in the Indo-U.S. relationship.
Rajiv Varma
Houston, TX