Minority rights

June 12, 2024

ISLAMABAD – PERHAPS 2024 was always meant to be the year voters were going to knock some sense into those who grew complacent in their power, especially in South Asia.

Indeed, we Pakistanis were not the only ones who misjudged an election; our neighbours and frenemies managed to do something similar, though the worst offenders on both sides were those who get paid to pontificate in front of the TV cameras.

In India, as in Pakistan, the government might have ended up with someone ‘expected’ to win — without the jugglery of Form 47 — but only after surprise, excitement and consternation.

The BJP, which had expectations of a ‘grand’ win, didn’t even manage a simple majority in the Lower House; its government will now be dependent on allies, who, it is expected, will not just extract their pound of flesh but also restrain any big ideological plans of the ruling party. Some are going even further. They hope a stronger opposition as well as bigger government allies can begin some kind of a rollback of the unwelcome legislation done in the recent past. Even more critical analysis questions whether the government will survive.

But before this next stage, the autopsies and post-mortems of the voters’ choice continues.

Was it the unequal economic growth of the past 10 years, where unemployment and inflation had taken the sheen off the BJP, despite the extensive social welfare schemes? Or did the government’s assertion of making changes to the constitution scare away voters who feared the abolition of reservations? Is there some truth to the stories of the RSS not being too keen on the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah combine returning for a third time? Or was it simply local politics, where UP, the friction between the BJP