The new edition of the Bharatiya Janata Party government at the Centre is scheduled to be sworn in today, 30 May. Riding on a massive saffron surge sweeping through most parts of India, the BJP-led NDA government is the only non-Congress government to be returned to power in the country’s political history.

Repeating its near improbable feat of landslide victories in the North, East and West, the National Democratic Alliance, with a vote-share of nearly 50 per cent, surpassed its last Lok Sabha elections tally of 336 to achieve a magical figure of 354, out of the total of 542 seats.

BJP itself scored a triple century as it were by winning 303 seats across the country. The Congress with 52 seats will unfortunately not account for 10 per cent of vote-share given the Lok Sabha’s strength of 543. It will therefore be denied the status of Leader of Opposition (LOP) for the second time. The BJP’s emphasis on national security after the surgical raids on terrorist groups in Pakistan in February strengthened the standing of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a strong leader.

The surgical strikes marked a point of inflection in the BJP campaign, which defeated the Opposition’s efforts to focus on the economic and social fronts, and governance. Modi essentially described the issues of nationalism and national security as serious concerns for India, and the strategy worked in the elections.

Additionally, religious polarisation helped the party to overcome the critical economic situation and its failures in several economic sectors, including the high unemployment rate, the agricultural crisis, the impact of demonetisation, and poor implementation of GST. The 2019 Lok Sabha election results are a Tsunami-2 for Narendra Modi, improving his 2014 performance.

Besides holding on to the Hindi heartland, the BJP has attained absolute majority, and the tally is widely distributed in almost all the states and Union Territories except Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. The party has made inroads into West Bengal, Telangana, Odisha, and has miraculously overshot its tally in Karnataka. Its performance in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Delhi and the North-eastern states has been astounding ~ 99 to 100 per cent victories.

India has been rated as the world’s fastest-growing economy by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. It is now the sixth largest economy beating France and is likely to beat Britain in the next fiscal. In that event, it will emerge as the fifth largest economy. The main reason for the BJP’s Tsunami-2 is that it has been able to outdo the regional parties and caste divisions. It was able to curb the regional ambitions of Mahagathbandan parties that had no agenda.

Further, the Opposition parties denigrated a democratically elected PM. Even in 2004, there was a similar situation when the then Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, was debunked by L K Advani during the ‘India Shining campaign’. As a result, the BJP suffered a humiliating defeat. The parties must rise above demeaning elected rivals and curb abusive language. Modi’s slogan of Sab kaa saath, sab kaa vikas encouraged Muslims, Dalits and tribals to vote for his party.

In course of his campaign, Modi has focused on eradication of corruption, alleviation of poverty, inculcation of the spirit of nationalism, focus on investment, growth, development, stability, high productivity jobs, increase in the farm income, revival of MSMEs, attention towards NPAs of banking sector, accomplishment of missions, skill development, digital India, star-ups, rolling out of improved GST, the spirit of the bankruptcy code and allocation of efficient capital, ensuring minimum government and maximum governance and showing the door to undeserving and corrupt managers.

The BJP perhaps reaped the benefits of mass popular schemes such as Prime Minister Yojanas like Kisan, Ayushman Bharat, Swachh Bharat, Ujwala, Saubhagya and other Yojanas. The National Register of Citizens (NRC) campaign in the North-east and the focus on ‘national security’ ~ using the terrorist attack in Pulwama and air strikes on Balakot, and describing Pakistan as ‘the enemy’ ~ were part of the ‘Hindutva-Security’ platform. Add to it the building up of an image of a strong leader who launched ‘surgical strikes’, and talked as equal with world leaders, pre-eminently Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping.

However, the Modi government has not been able to do much in terms of national security and defence-related issues during the past five years. The modernisation of its defence forces suffered because of poor allocation in the defence budget ~ specifically 1.44 per cent of GDP which is the least since 1962. This can adversely affect the capabilities of the armed forces in the event of a twin offensive from two hostile neighbours.

It is time for the Modi government to concentrate on modernisation of its defence forces. It should allocate sufficient funds during the next five years to strengthen its Armed Forces. The BJP manifesto had declared that it will “speed up the purchase of outstanding defence related equipment and weapons, and equip the armed forces with modern equipment to strengthen the strike capability”.

However, reality does not match its rhetoric on the acquisition of defence equipment, because of inadequate allocation of funds. However, the party’s clear and unambiguous stand on nationalism and internal security has worked. It gets reflected in the “policy of zero tolerance against terrorism and extremism” and “giving a free hand to security forces in combating terrorism”.

As expected, the BJP reiterated its resolve to abrogate Article 370, which gives autonomous status to Jammu and Kashmir, and annul Article 35A of the Constitution, which the party finds discriminatory against non-permanent residents and women of the Valley. Hopefully, this will be implemented sooner rather than later to prove that it means business. “We believe that Article 35A is an obstacle in the development of the state.

We will take all steps to ensure a safe and peaceful environment for all residents of the state. We will make all efforts to ensure the safe return of Kashmiri Pandits. We will provide financial assistance for the resettlement of refugees from West Pakistan, Pakistan occupied Kashmir (POK) and Chhamb,” states the BJP manifesto.

As regards another critical issue ~ restructuring the higher defence management ~ the Congress manifesto speaks of putting in place the office of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) as single advisor to the Government on defence-related issues and a member of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS). The BJP manifesto is silent on this important issue. There is a definite requirement of CDS as recommended by previous committees ~ Subrahmanyam Committee 2001, Group of Ministers Committee 2002 and Naresh Chandra Committee Task Force 2011.

It is imperative to integrate the Defence ministry with the three Armed Forces Headquarters by posting officers in the MoD for better coordination, fast acquisition of weapons and equipment and infusing efficiency in the system. The Modi government should be magnanimous in honouring the good points of the Congress manifesto like the appointment of CDS and implementing reforms in the defence forces. Hopefully, the new government will create a healthy environment for accepting positive suggestions of the Opposition parties.

(The writer is former Senior Professor, International Trade. He may be reached at vasu022@gmail.com)