As India tallied up votes at the end of a seven-weeklong election, incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP, fell short of retaining its parliamentary majority — seemingly delivering a verdict on policies that have emphasized Hindu nationalism, investment in infrastructure, and welfare handouts for the poor, but largely failed to deliver jobs or widespread prosperity.
The shock election results, which will leave Modi reliant on alliance parties to form a new government, were a reminder that despite India’s rapid growth and increasing presence on the global stage, the majority of Indians still live in relative poverty. India has a per capita gross domestic product of just over $2,000.
“People had had enough,” said Kavita Srivastava, the national secretary of the human rights organization People’s Union for Civil Liberties. “The people of India are suffering. There are a lot of issues which are unaddressed, like employment, the breakdown of everyday survival systems.”