A weakened Modi could make India stronger
Voters have told the prime minister and his once-dominant party what they really care about. It would be foolish not to listen.
ENTERING his third term leading the world’s biggest democracy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is weaker than he expected to be. India is the stronger for it – and will be stronger still if he heeds the message voters are sending.
Modi swept into power in 2014 as the head of the first single-party majority India had seen in a quarter-century. His Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) increased its dominance five years later and thought it would do so again this year.
Instead, voters delivered a stinging rebuke: the BJP lost 63 seats and its majority. The government Modi heads is now a true coalition. To stay in power, he must cater to other members, including two fickle regional powerbrokers.
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