NEW DELHI, May 23:
“India has won again”, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi today while reacting to BJP’s stupendous showing in the Lok Sabha polls as the Union Ministers and NDA allies credited him and BJP president Amit Shah for the feat, described by many as a “tsunami” that virtually drowned the Opposition.
While there was euphoria in the BJP-led NDA camp, the Congress and other opposition parties were muted in their reactions after the poll verdict clearly showed that they were headed towards another poll debacle after 2014.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi took “100 per cent responsibility” for his party’s defeat but asserted that the party will continue to fight the ideological battle with the BJP and asked his party workers and leaders to not be afraid.
He also congratulated Modi and the BJP on their electoral win, Congress president Rahul Gandhi said,”People of India have decided that Narendra Modi will be the PM again and I fully respect that.”
Hailing the BJP’s performance as “victory of India”, Shah said it is people’s mandate against the Opposition’s propaganda and personal attacks as well as their total rejection of politics of dynasty, appeasement and casteism.
However, TMC and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s reaction was more pragmatic.”Congratulations to the winners. But all losers are not losers. We have to do a complete review and then we will share our views with you all. Let the counting process be completed fully and the VVPATs matched,” she tweeted.
In a series of tweets, Shah said this victory is a “win of people’s confidence in Prime Minister Narendra Modi”.
“Today’s result is India’s mandate against Opposition’s propaganda, lies, personal insinuations and baseless politics. It is also people’s mandate who have chosen development and nationalism and rejected casteism, dynasty and appeasement,” Shah said.
Hailing BJP’s performance, RSS’ Bhaiyaji Joshi said,”This is the triumph of the national forces.”
Asserting that people have given a befitting reply to the opposition parties which created “an atmosphere of illusion” against Modi, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut said,”the entire country is ‘Modi-may’ (in thrall of Modi)…The truth has to be accepted that no one could counter Modi. Today’s mandate is such that no one can counter (Modi) for the next 25 years.”
Senior ministers Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Suresh Prabhu and Ramvilas Paswan were among those who credited Modi for the stupendous electoral triumph.
Congress spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill said,”Congress party is feeling dejected and the trends are not in line with the expectations of the party. I would not jump to the results till complete counting has taken place.”
“If they (trends) hold, then Congress needs to introspect as to why it’s campaign failed to resonate with the people of the country,” he added.
Immediately after the poll outcome, cracks appeared in the opposition camp with CPI national secretary Atul Kumar Anjaan saying decisions taken by Rahul Gandhi led to divisions within the opposition. He asserted that the policies of the Congress scion opened the doors for Narendra Modi’s victory.
“We have some setbacks and we find that unfortunately Congress didn’t performed up to the mark,” senior leader of Nationalist Congress Party Majeed Memon told a TV channel.
“This is clear mandate for Modi led BJP government…caste combination looks good on paper but merely caste combination does not work. You need a big loud message that opposition did not had,” Yogendra Yadav of Swaraj India said.
Terming the Lok Sabha poll results as unprecedented, BSP president Mayawati again raised doubts over EVMs and indicated that her alliance with the SP and the RLD will continue.
“We had not contemplated that the alliance will fare so badly. People are not able to digest the poll results. It is against their sentiment and aspirations,” she said.
Aam Aadmi Party spokesperson Saurabh Bharwaj said,”in democracy, mandate of the people is considered to be very powerful. We respect the mandate of India and congratulate the BJP for its victory. We offer Prime Minister Narendra Modi best wishes for his future tenure. We hope he would do good work in his future tenure.”(PTI)
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