India's Modi readies for third term without BJP majority

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00:00The election result isn't what Prime Minister Narendra Modi was hoping for.

00:04He is set to retain power, but his BJP party has lost its outright

00:08parliamentary majority for the first time in a decade.

00:14It seems like Modi got a bit of a shock.

00:16We think his party workers were a bit too confident,

00:20and that's why they lost so many seats.

00:22The issues the opposition Congress party and its alliance raised,

00:30such as unemployment, the economy and the divisive politics being pursued by the BJP government,

00:39were absolutely clear during the election campaign.

00:42The Indians understood it very well and that's why they gave seats to the opposition.

00:47Having lost 63 seats since the last election, Modi has lost his badge of invincibility.

00:52On Wednesday, he agreed to form a government with coalition allies

00:56in a bid to make up for the 30 seats he's missing.

00:59The main opposition Congress party meanwhile doubled its 2019 tally,

01:03a key sign of Modi's eroding popularity.

01:06It really comes down to, I think, two factors.

01:07There's the economic side and there's the political side.

01:10You know, the party's Hindutva or Hindu nationalist

01:12ideology didn't resonate throughout the country.

01:15And then on the economic side, I think the party's messaging on the economy,

01:19this narrative that India is the world's fastest growing major economy,

01:22that didn't really resonate in a country where you have high levels of youth unemployment,

01:27high levels of inequality, inflationary pressures.

01:30There's instability ahead for Indian politics,

01:33but the split result also means the world's largest democracy is intact.

01:37In the longer term, Modi's weakened position will likely have an impact

01:41on the party's succession plans and the question of a post-Modi era may become part of the agenda.

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