The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which Prime Minister Narendra Modi led a campaign to a record victory in Gujarat, has received extensive coverage in international news outlets.
In Gujarat, the incumbent BJP recorded a historic win with 156 seats on Thursday. The BJP’s 7th consecutive Assembly election win is also the party’s biggest since the state was created in 1960. The Straits Times of Singapore, the Nikkei Asia, ABC News, Al Jazeera, and the Independent were a few of the international newspapers that included images of the joyous celebrations of the BJP’s victory in Gujarat.
According to the British newspaper The Guardian, Prime Minister Modi gave his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) a significant boost, demonstrating the party’s enduring popularity before a general election scheduled for 2024.
The popularity of PM Modi in Gujarat, according to Japan’s Nikkei Asia, is what helped the BJP win this election, noting that the party has not lost an assembly election there since 1995.
“Modi is wildly popular in the state, where he served as chief minister for nearly 13 years before becoming prime minister in 2014,” the newspaper said.
The Japanese daily said Modi held a series of campaign rallies in the state, lending his star power to the BJP’s campaign. “Many residents take pride in the fact that the Gujarat-born Modi represents India at the global level, and feel a sense of responsibility to support him,” the newspaper added.
The historic victory in Gujarat is a significant boost for the BJP before the national elections in 2024, according to the UK-based The Independent.
Ajay Gudavarthy, a professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University, told Al Jazeera that the BJP’s easy victory in Gujarat demonstrates a stronger consolidation of the Hindu vote.
On his personal Twitter account on Thursday, Prime Minister Modi expressed gratitude to the Gujarati people for blessing development politics.
Thank you Gujarat. I am overcome with a lot of emotions seeing the phenomenal election results. People blessed politics of development and at the same time expressed a desire that they want this momentum to continue at a greater pace. I bow to Gujarat’s Jan Shakti,” PM Modi tweeted.
“To all hardworking @BJP4Gujarat Karyakartas I want to say – each of you is a champion! This historic win would never be possible without the exceptional hardwork of our Karyakartas, who are the real strength of our Party,” he added.