Even if India's Narendra Modi is sworn in as Prime Minister for the third time, he is diminished | World News

Narendra Modi was sworn in as Prime Minister for a third consecutive term by Indian President Droupadi Murmu at a ceremony in New Delhi.

The 73-year-old is only the second prime minister, after Jawaharlal Nehru, to win three terms since the country's independence in 1947.

Leaders of almost all of the South Asian nation's neighbors were present at the ceremony, but the absence of the Pakistani leader was conspicuous, with relations between the two nuclear-armed neighbors at an all-time low in recent years.

A multi-layered security blanket covered the venue with thousands of police and paramilitary personnel deployed in the national capital. A no-fly zone over the region was imposed along with a ban on paragliders, hang gliders, drones, microlights and hot air balloons.

Unlike the first two terms, Mr ModiThe Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) failed to gain a majority and is now entirely dependent on smaller regional parties to form and stabilize its power for the next five years.

It was a bruising victory for Mr. Modi, who won a landslide victory in 2014. Since then, he has dominated the country's political landscape.

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In 2019, Mr. Modi secured an increased mandate of 303 seats out of the 543 seats in Parliament. The overwhelming majority gave him carte blanche to govern without depending on coalition partners. A few of his allies withdrew their support, but this did not affect the stability of his government.

This time it's different. With 240 seats, his party is 32 seats short and must rely entirely on smaller regional parties.

The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), along with many other smaller parties, will help Mr Modi reach the crucial half of the 272 seats in Parliament.

In the past, governments have fallen by one vote and Mr Modi will be aware of the potential for his alliance partners to hurt him.

Andhra Pradesh's Telugu Desam Party (TDP) with 16 MLAs and Bihar's Janata Dal United Party (JDU) with 12 MLAs hold the key to the stability of Mr. Modi's government.

These partners, no matter how small, will extract their own pound of flesh for support.

Once considered a strong and invincible man at the head of a Hindu-dominated BJP relying on the religious majority, Mr. Modi is now punished by Indian voters, particularly in rural areas.

This is the case of the state of Uttar Pradesh (UP), in the north of the country, which has 80 seats and where the BJP won only 33, or 29 fewer than in the previous elections.

Mr Modi's right-wing government relies heavily on courting the Hindu majority, around 80% of the population.

Ahead of the elections, Mr. Modi dedicated the Lord Ram temple in Ayodhya earlier this year. However, the city, which falls under the Faizabad constituency, elected a non-BJP candidate.

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Mr Modi himself contested his third election in the holy city of Varanasi and won by a margin of just 152,513 votes, significantly lower than his margin of 480,000 votes in 2019.

In his party, he is ranked 116th out of the 240 winning MPs in terms of electoral margin, one of the lowest ever recorded by a sitting Prime Minister.

The results are a blow to Mr. Modi and the carefully crafted image he portrays.

During the election campaign, he resorted to vehement anti-Muslim rhetoric. His campaign was conspicuously devoid of the achievements of the last ten years of government.

This was as the Congress-led opposition campaigned on the issues of high unemployment, inflation, cost of living crisis, farmers' woes and rural distress.

India may have overtaken Britain as the world's fifth-largest economy during Mr Modi's tenure, but its GDP per capita remains dismal, with India ranking 136th in the world.

Unemployment is a persistent problem and thousands of young men are risking their lives to seek a better future outside India.

Inequalities have reached a historic high, even more flagrant than under colonial Britain.

According to a report by the Paris-based World Inequalities Lab, the richest 1% of India's population controls 40% of the country's wealth.

India ranks 111th out of 125 countries in the Global Hunger Index (2023) report. The government, however, rejected the report's findings.

Last year, Mr. Modi announced the extension of the free food ration program to 800 million Indians for the next five years.

In his third term, Mr. Modi is diminished and his right-wing exaggeration no longer attracts ordinary people, especially the younger generation.

Mr. Modi now faces an emboldened opposition whose economic and social programs are attractive.

He will have to avoid controversial speeches which are no longer accepted by the public and maintain and protect the liberal and secular values ​​on which the country was created.