Are Indian rulers losing votes due to anti-Muslim agitation? By Padma Rao.

The headquarters of the Hindu nationalist Indian People's Party (BJP) is in the heart of the capital New Delhi. If there is an event to be celebrated, the area is closed so that supporters and party employees can dance and sing. Confectionery makers set up stalls in the sweltering heat to mark the announcement of election results on Tuesday so the BJP could celebrate Prime Minister Narendra Modi's victory and third term in office. But it was a quiet party.

In fact, Modi will remain in office. But the election was a bitter disappointment for the BJP. To form a coalition government, they will rely on the mandate of other parties in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). The BJP and the country's major media, much of which is sympathetic to him, have boasted for months that Modi's party would win more than 400 of the 543 seats in the Lok Sabha, India's lower house. The number is only 240, not enough for a majority and 62 fewer than five years ago.

Hope for the opposition

Not far away, the offices of the Indian National Congress (INC), which leads the “Indian Bloc” alliance of opposition parties, were filling up as more news came in about the favorable election results. During the election campaign, INC Chairman Rahul Gandhi trekked across the subcontinent in hot weather and asked people to vote for Modi. For a long time his efforts seemed in vain.

But now questions arise about the reasons for the BJP's electoral failure. After all, as Modi repeated on Tuesday, the party has kept all its promises: India's economy is strong, the country is a sought-after partner on the international stage and it takes care of all the country's poor.

Modi did not mention that the BJP is pursuing a Hindu nationalist agenda by introducing a new citizenship law that does not allow Muslims to become Indian citizens. Recently, Modi tried to reactivate Hindu chauvinism through a series of hateful statements against Indian Muslims.

The fact that he called them “invaders” also embarrassed members of his own party: “Yes, his recent statements are not statesmanlike and have drawn him into controversy,” said publicist Swapan Dasgupta, who is also a member of the BJP, in the Frankfurt Review. However, he did not blame anti-Muslim rhetoric for the poor performance, but rather internal party power struggles and poor candidate selection.

Meanwhile, there are hopes among the opposition that Modi could fail to get a majority. There are rumors that the two main potential coalition partners could switch political sides if Modi does not meet their position or funding demands for their states. On Wednesday evening, Modi and potential coalition partners met for a lengthy meeting. “Our fragile majority means stability cannot be taken for granted,” Dasgupta said. “I predict there will be new elections in two years.”