Experts underestimated the resurgence of India’s Congress party. Undaunted by soaring heat and a long and exhausting campaign, roughly 420m Indian voters have produced the best possible outcome for India in the largest election of world history.
The results will be widely read as a sign of national renewal, signalling a retreat of parochial political noise. India’s economic downturn and security dilemmas require political stability and national resolve. Whether that is why the electorate produced such an unexpected verdict in favour of the Congress alliance remains unclear, but the election results will certainly take India in that direction. South Asia, a dangerous neighbourhood, and the world will be a better place as a consequence.
The victory of the Congress alliance needs to be put in historical perspective. Since the birth of the Indian republic, India’s greatest leaders have intuitively grasped their biggest challenge: how to stitch the nation’s diversities together.
More than any other political organisation, the Congress party has understood the centrality of this task. It always incorporated the nation’s linguistic diversities into its internal structure, and it sought to bring together Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians.
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