Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Saturday criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi, addressing comparisons made by his supporters between Modi and India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. Ramesh pointed out that while Modi secured a one-third majority, Nehru consistently achieved a two-thirds majority.
Ramesh referred to Modi’s supporters as “drumbeaters,” accusing them of unjustly glorifying Modi’s electoral performance. “The effort to find silver linings in what is essentially a moral, political, and personal defeat for Narendra Modi has begun,” Ramesh commented. He highlighted that while Modi has been praised for receiving a mandate thrice consecutively after Nehru, leading a party to 240 seats and becoming a one-third majority Prime Minister does not compare to Nehru’s achievements.
Ramesh emphasized that the Modi-led BJP won only 240 seats, falling 32 seats short of a simple majority. In contrast, Nehru won elections with overwhelming mandates: 364 seats in 1952, 371 seats in 1957, and 361 seats in 1962, securing a two-thirds majority each time. “Nehru remained a complete democrat, nurturing Parliament with his constant presence,” Ramesh noted.
He also pointed out that Modi is not the only leader since Nehru to be sworn in thrice. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was sworn in three times in 1996, 1998, and 1999, and Indira Gandhi was sworn in four times in 1966, 1967, 1971, and 1980. Ramesh accused Modi’s supporters of trying to justify what he called Modi’s “pathetic electoral performance in 2024.”
Despite bringing the BJP back to power in 2014 after a decade, Modi will now have to rely on his allies, Chandrababu Naidu and Nitish Kumar, to form a government. On Friday, Modi staked his claim to form the government and was elected as the leader of the NDA Parliamentary Party. President Droupadi Murmu subsequently appointed him as the prime minister-elect, with the swearing-in ceremony scheduled for June 9.