The year is 2014. A lotus blooms on front pages of newspapers and saffron flags deck the streets. The air is abuzz with reports of a ‘landslide’ victory, a wave sweeping across India. The world’s largest election concluded on May 17, and the mandate of 81.5 crore people has revealed itself — not with a whimper, but a bang. Three words, etched in bold, take centre-stage on The Hindu’s front page: PRIME MINISTER MODI.
India has voted for a Prime Minister who promised acche din, days that break the cycle of corruption scandals, policy paralysis and economic stasis that had come to define the reign of the incumbent Congress party.
The 2014 elections were the prelude to India’s Modi era — a decade-long reign the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party vies to extend in this year’s national elections. To understand India in 2024, we go back to the time when a politician’s popularity lodged BJP into the corridors of Raisina Hills, transforming the nation’s political landscape.
