In India, PM Narendra Modi’s new coalition needs all-embracing approach to minorities

During a six-week election campaign, ruling party leaders made toxic references, in particular to Muslims.

However, halfway through the seven-phased election, Modi denied he was referring to Muslims in an earlier speech in which he had said the opposition Congress party would redistribute people’s wealth to infiltrators and those with more children.

Did the BJP sense it had blundered by overplaying the Hindu card?

It would appear so because the BJP candidate in Rajasthan’s Banswara – where Modi made the infiltrator remark – was trounced by a candidate from an obscure regional party.

In Faizabad, home to the opening ceremony of a temple to the Hindu god Ram presided by Modi, the party again lost. Simple maths shows that Muslims, who account for 20 per cent of India’s population, could not alone have accounted for the defeats.

Throughout a journey that I undertook through Uttar Pradesh – the state which contributes the most number of parliament seats – several Muslim citizens expressed their anguish.

Irrespective of religion, most people said they were more bothered about unemployment and rising living costs than about Hindu-Muslim issues.

Small wonder that the BJP’s seat share dropped from 62 out of 80 to 33 in Uttar Pradesh, a key reason for the party to have fallen short of securing an outright majority.

It is now perilously dependent on coalition allies – particularly the Telugu Desam Party and the Janata Dal (United) – and also independent candidates and other smaller parties.

While Modi has signalled that he would remain India’s bold and brazen leader by retaining his entire core team of ministers, my bet is that he will be relying on a consensus rather than pushing through sensitive laws and programmes.

In February, the hill