Editorial Insight: Modi’s Historic Prime Ministerial Tenure and the Road Ahead
The ruling BJP and its NDA partners are commemorating 12 years at the helm of the Union government. Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached a landmark that further cements his place in India's political record.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has several reasons to celebrate. As the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance finishes 12 years in power at the Center, the event has been made even more noteworthy by a historic achievement for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has become the longest-serving PM.
This is a remarkable achievement for the NDA government in an age when voters are fast to lose faith in political leaders and parties. Mr. Modi's maintained electoral success and longevity in office are expected to be the envy of several of his political competitors. Massive public support for the prime minister has been the principal factor in this. For a long time, Mr. Modi has been active in ushering tectonic changes.
The BJP and its electoral wins are proof of leadership record. It can justify a claim to be the natural party of governance for the nation. It has deepened its footprint across large chunks of territory; Bengal, Odisha, and the Northeast are examples that remain elusive.
The prime minister and his party have also succeeded in shifting India’s ideological temperament to the Right in another break from the past. Yet one more success has been the BJP’s social engineering to discover a balance between its conventional upper-caste voter blocs and the more backward classes and Dalits. The Prime Minister Tenure clever harnessing of his social distinctiveness has played a role in this.
Whether Mr. Modi is able to get the course correction on these worrying fronts may determine the duration of his spell at the helm.
