Verdict that doesn’t dethrone incumbents but urges to be humble

The outcome of the elections for the 18th Lok Sabha should come as a good augury for democracy in India as it carries the hint of rejuvenation of its republican spirit and character and an assurance of restoration of healthy issue-based rivalry that informed and inspired the early decades after its Independence.

It is an outcome that blows a fresh whiff of air into corridors that were getting mustier with the stench of autocracy, hate speech, maligning of political rivals in terms never heard in the popular discourse and deliberate vilification of the legendary founders of the nation.

The outcome has, however, not rejected the tormentors altogether. It has merely humbled them, offering the prospect of course correction, as they are the ones most likely to crawl back to the seat of power with diminished stature, sans the elan they flaunted all this while.

The outcome signals the repudiation of politico-ideological narratives interwoven with religious supremacism and majoritarianism attempting to draw its essence from triumphalism built upon a three decade long movement in the Hindi heartland.

And what better reward than the toxic messages appearing to lose their appeal in the very heartland they emanated from. It also comes as a reaffirmation that the antennae of India’s vast electorate are alert enough to differentiate issues from bogeys that seek to camouflage them.

No amount of gimmickry and fakery can blunt their faculties to deflect attention from what is immediate to their well-being and general wealth of the masses.

It is not a verdict that seeks to dethrone the incumbents. It is one that warns them against taking people for granted. It for sure, does not condemn them to ignominy. It should serve as an alert against ego-boasting leaders and ones obsessed with self-projection as a divinely anointed leader that could do no wrong.