Refrain behind verdict: ‘Centre’s power too one-sided, a little ankush (restraint)?’

If one word can sum up the outcome of the 2024 elections, it is the Hindi word, ”ankush,” (restraint) that the Indian voter has exercised — she has given the BJP the mandate to rule for a third term — but has also reined it in.

The BJP leadership will now have to rule at the head of a coalition government, take along its allies, be more mindful of its own party leaders who were given short shrift. The BJP may still dismiss concerns raised by the Opposition but it will be aware that it can’t quite get away with it – with a 60-plus dip in their tally.

In democratic politics, arithmetic also shapes chemistry and Prime Minister Narendra Modi knows that. Ever since he began contesting elections in 2001, he has never been part of a formation that’s not in majority — until now. This did have an echo on the campaign street.

After the BJP’s sweeping victories, the break-up of Opposition parties, the arrest of two sitting Chief Ministers, the use of Central agencies, the stand-off between Governors and CMs, the way Rahul Gandhi was disqualified, many people, including BJP voters, would ask, “Kuchh zyada toh nahin ho raha? Thoda ankush hota to achcha hota.” (Isn’t this too much, too one-sided…a little restraint would be good).

This refrain cut across sections.

Reacting to the unbridled power the “400 paar” slogan signalled, the banker in Mumbai worried whether it would lead to “a one-party rule” or a “change in the preamble and basic structure of the Constitution”. A top corporate called for a little more elbow room in the echelons of power. Dalits, especially the politically empowered influencers in their communities, sitting in their tolas in UP, Rajasthan or Maharashtra, discussed how an “ek-tarfa success” for the BJP may entail a