What does Modi's re-election mean for India? What impact will it have internationally? ZEIT Editor Anant Agarwala will answer your questions and comments about elections in India over the next two hours in the comments section below. Feel free to join the discussion!

You could choose two headings for this text that conflict with each other and both would still be correct. The first headline: “Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wins historic third term.” Second headline: “Modi's party is over.”

Hindu Nationalist Party of Narendra Modi, the BJP, has won the most seats in India's parliamentary elections so far. And only the legendary Jawaharlal Nehru has so far managed to secure a third term. But in 2024, Modi's victory will not turn into defeat, but rather the end of the party. The BJP has lost many seats and now needs a coalition partner to form a government.

But feelings are much more important than seat assignments. So far, Modi has portrayed himself – with the help of a media loyal to him – as a sovereign figure with no alternative. What's more, he was considered invincible, literally. Since he first contested elections in 2002, then as Chief Minister of Gujarat, he has never lost a single election. By Tuesday morning, TV channels and polling agencies were once again predicting a landslide win for the BJP.

His supporters, in turn, celebrate Modi like a god. And in recent weeks he himself had repeatedly flirted with the idea that perhaps he was not the only one from earth. But a messenger from God, chosen India serve.

This narrative is over, Modi is human again. An ordinary politician who underestimates his voters, whose ego is big and whose politics are sometimes pathetic, no longer convinces many people.

Modi's self-awareness is unreliable

The party has lost many seats, especially in northern states, where the BJP has performed the hardest. It seems that voters' message to Modi is: Islamophobia is not an election program. From appearance to appearance, Modi feeds into Hindu paranoia in the north and denigrates the opposition as the whore of Muslims. However, it ignores the issues that affect hundreds of millions of Indians every day: unemployment, poverty, education, and healthcare. Climate change has also been largely ignored as people have trudged to the polls in near 50 degree temperatures over the past few weeks. Instead, Modi relies on himself. His face can be seen everywhere, his name can be read everywhere. He bullied, he preached – and at the end of the election phase he disappeared for 45 hours of meditation in the south of the country, which made for some great photos.

In general, Modi carries out too much symbolic politics. He built a highway that was rarely used by people because the number of victims was too high. As well as airports that only promise comfort for the upper class. He inaugurated a temple of god Ram on the site of the destroyed mosque – in a photo montage, it was Modi who took Ram by the hand to his place of worship. And he pitted lower caste Hindus against Muslims.

Perhaps Modi has now realized that he loves identity politics and Hindu chauvinism devotion self-bound – that's what Modi supporters are called who believe everything he says like a guru and have retreated into the world of Hindu nationalist propaganda. But the majority of the country can no longer be convinced like this.

However, one should not rely on Modi's self-knowledge. He and his officials have demonstrated over the past ten years that they view democratic institutions and processes as optional; he was always ready to help the autocrats. Opposition politicians were arrested, university administrations filled with followers, and independent media harassed. Even abroad, opponents of the regime were intimidated. In short: the country is on its way to becoming the world's largest autocracy. Intolerance, authoritarianism and backwardness are the antithesis of the liberal social ideas that underpinned the founding of independent India in 1947.

The country no longer wants to follow him on this path. It is likely that the opposition will get louder. Internationally, this is also an opportune time to demand democratic standards in India more aggressively. Because it is easier to negotiate with humans than with gods.