“Winners relieved, ... losers encouraged.” What’s foreign media saying about Gujarat elections?

International media has taken note of Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) lackadaisical show, as well as Congress’ impressive performance, in the recently concluded Gujarat assembly elections.

Observing that PM Modi, three years into his tenure after being elected in a landslide victory, continued to be a “formidable political force,” a New York Times article on the outcome of Gujarat elections nevertheless commented, “But there may be some cracks.”

The NYT quoted Sudha Pai, a former professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), as remarking, “The arrogance of the B.J.P. has been tamed a bit.”

Vir Sanghvi, the former editor at Hindustan Times, wrote in his column in the South China Morning Post that Gujarat was the kind of victory where “the winners were more relieved than overjoyed.”

“And the losers were not despondent but encouraged,” Sanghvi added.

The veteran Indian journalist further noted that PM Modi had abandoned the “themes of development” as tried to politically exploit the “Hindu-Muslim conflict.”

“He alleged that the Pakistan high commissioner and a former Pakistani foreign minister had met with former Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh (a Congressman) to plot the BJP’s defeat in Gujarat,” the South China Morning Post column read.

“It is hard to say whether Modi actually believed any of his allegations. But what is indisputable is that the BJP campaign had switched to sectarian messaging,” it said.

Sanghvi concluded his write-up for the Hong Kong-based publication, “The Modi juggernaut may roll on. But there are bumps in the road ahead.”

The Telegraph in the United Kingdom highlighted in an article that the Gujarat elections were the closest political battle that PM Modi had faced in recent times.

“The election in Gujarat was bitterly fought, with campaigning marked by some of the sharpest verbal duels seen in recent Indian elections,” the UK-headquartered publication said.

The daily also highlighted PM Modi’s jibe that Congress was seeking help from Pakistan to influence voting.

“The allegation was angrily denied by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,” the article said.

In India, Kolkata’s Telegraph came up with a rather colourful banner headline that seems to have conveyed the prevailing sentiment among the opposition leaders and supporters.

“Yes, he can,” the banner headline read, in reference to Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s shot at the Prime Ministership in the next national elections in 2019.

The Telegraph article, presenting the major takeaways from the polls, remarked that the BJP was no longer “invincible.”

“Modi's barnstorming campaign may have saved the BJP the blushes, but he need not be the one-man juggernaut he is often projected as,” the news report read.

The newspaper lauded Rahul Gandhi for attracting a crop of young leaders that were seen as being BJP’s supporters previously.

The Telegraph commented, “The Indian voter's finger never ceases to surprise.”