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managed to collect some 20% of the votes cast in the state. Indeed, after
the BJP and Congress, it got the most votes nationally of any party in the
election. Yet it failed to win a single constituency. By contrast the BJP not
only collected a huge tally of votes but also turned those efficiently into
seats. With 31% of the national vote-share, they captured nearly 52% of
the seats in parliament.

That suggests an important shift in Indian politics. The BJP did
extraordinarily well because it approached the election in a far more
professional, strategic and efficient way than its rivals. The methods it
employed were modern, and the skill at which Mr Modi and his fellow
leaders conducted their campaigns rivalled the sort of performances put in
by American presidential contenders (and with similar quantities of money
to spend). Rahul Gandhi of Congress, in the end, proved to be a hopeless
amateur, poorly advised without even decent media-management skills or
the ability to present a strong campaign message. Many regional figures
proved similarly out of date in their campaigning. The BJP’s roadshows
and rallies, the door-knocking by volunteers, the influence on India’s press
and television channels, the ability to set the agenda of discussion, all went
to making the election a remarkably one-sided affair. The chief minister of
Bihar, Nitish Kumar, tendered his resignation on May 17th, after his party
was flattened by the BJP in the state. (Assam’s chief minister, from
Congress, has also offered to quit.) That was not because of anti-
incumbency—voters in Bihar are happy with the work Mr Kumar has
been doing—but because the BJP’s campaign was vastly superior.

Mr Modi in his first speeches after his victory has sounded magnanimous
and made the right noises about running the country for all, bringing
everyone along. He also mentioned, only partly accurately, that the BJP’s
success transcended caste politics and religious appeals. If that were
entirely true, it would be another reason to call this election result historic.
In fact the BJP did make some use of caste and religion, as when Mr Modi
played up his “other backward classes” background while campaigning in
Uttar Pradesh, or when he criticized Bangladeshi (read: Muslim)
infiltrators in Assam and West Bengal. It is troubling, too, that the new
parliament will have the fewest Muslim members of any since 1952, while

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