India has given Narendra Modi a mandate to refashion the country

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/21/india-modi-mandate-refashion-country

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There were three phases in the hugely successful election campaign of India's prime minister-elect Narendra Modi.

The first focused on the underperformance and corruption of the outgoing Congress-led government that has been in power for the past 10 years. Modi asked voters to ensure a "Congress-free India". The second, which started taking shape midway through the campaign once it was apparent that Congress was losing the battle, asked voters to ensure a clear majority for Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance. And the third, which ran concurrently with the plea for a clear mandate, centred on the theme song of the Modi campaign, "The good days are coming".

Modi should be enormously satisfied that India's 550 million-strong electorate obliged him on the first two counts. On Friday, the results revealed that Congress had been reduced to 44 MPs in the 543-member parliament. The outcome was so dismal that it may not secure formal recognition as an opposition party. At the same time, with a tally of 282 seats, and an additional 52 for its allies, the BJP secured an unequivocal mandate – the first occasion any single party has won a clear majority since the 1984 election.

Modi's extraordinary performance in his presidential-style campaign can be explained by the impact of the third theme of his hard sell: the promise of a better future. In this election, Modi turned conventional punditry on its head as the BJP broke through barriers of caste, class and language to prevail in constituencies outside its traditional areas of influence. What is now being dubbed the "Modi tsunami" was particularly felt among India's 150 million first-time voters. In what is likely to be regarded as a landmark election, Modi, it would seem, cashed in on India's fabled demographic dividend.

The sheer scale of the Modi victory has profound implications for the future. It is clear that in this new-versus-old battle, the mandate is for Modi to sweep away the cobwebs of bureaucratic and political lethargy and unleash India's creative energies. Young voters tend to be impetuous and impatient; they seek quick results and in the Indian context are disdainful of the niceties and complex procedures of state-run initiatives. Modi knows this only too well, which is why he is likely to depend disproportionately on an onslaught of entrepreneurship to get India working at a frenetic pace.

Whereas the Congress regime had stressed the importance of a welfare cushion for India's poor, Modi will prioritise heavy state and private sector investments in infrastructure upgrading, creating an enabling environment for economic activity. As the only leader in living memory who has espoused the principle of "minimum government, maximum governance", Modi will seek to introduce a new dimension to the functioning of India's bloated state sector: efficiency.

Modi has in recent days been viewed as India's Margaret Thatcher. He certainly demonstrates a similar steely resolve, pugnaciousness and disdain for consensus politics that was the hallmark of the Iron Lady. Yet, the comparison remains tentative until Modi unveils his approach towards meeting the likely resistance that will flow from his desire to unsettle India's plodding culture.

India's growth has dipped in the past two years from a healthy 8% to less than 5%. The slowdown has dampened the soaring aspirations of a generation that grew up untroubled by the earlier shortage economy. Young India has tasted facets of the good life and has a craving for more. Modi's win captured its impatience and will now use that huge reservoir of energy for his bigger battle to refashion India.

Last week, India voted for a rupture with the past. At the same time it left it to Modi to define the path to resurgency. More than a government, India has chosen a leader. And by breaking down in parliament after his party unanimously chose him to be prime minister, he demonstrated that this leader is also very human