EXIT POLLS lose again…nothing unusual about it. The more interesting question is why? It is because they could not differentiate between the uncertain and the impossible.

 

Looking back at the most ‘watched’ event of the last few days, an event pregnant with implication for national politics, it will be foolish to attribute the victory of Narendra Modi to a single cause. Nor will it be just to dismiss it in a one liner. But it will not be akin to going into deep waters to check out the results of this victory. The most probable outcomes are here.

 

Congress taking time to get back its wind after this knockout punch, and in no place for a showdown at a national levels, fearing to even go for a stare out with the left on the issue of the nuclear deal, the snap polls are unlikely to occur. Also Modi’s arrival at the front alters equation within the BJP, which is much battered lately in feuds between hardliners and moderates. And of course, the issue of development, which took a backseat after Nandigram and POSCO episodes, would again come to the forefront.

Modi’s victory is a combination of several factors. Prominent among them are development, reforms friendliness, firebrand demagogy, appropriate combination of Gujarati pride or ashmita, and of course, the personality cult after Modi.

 

Ironically, the issue which is most discussed, Hindutva, was the least played this time…a careful look at Modi’s words can be a clue. His uncompromising, and according to critics, bloody-minded approach came in the way of getting him sound allies and mass-base. Modi assuredly gave BJP its own Bengal, and the central leadership is also rushing in to partake in the glory.