India election 2024: How Modi’s rivals came back from the brink

The party had banked on the Ram Mandir temple to be their trump card, with Mr Modi presiding over the opening of the unfinished temple in Ayodhya with much fanfare in January. But in the Faizabad constituency, where it is located, the BJP candidate lost.

Abhishek Yadav, an SP youth-wing leader and a star campaigner for his party, told the BBC that initially they too believed that the temple would help the BJP win the key state.

“Until early April, [the] election in the state had seemed like a one-sided contest with the odds stacked against us,” Mr Yadav told me recently. “But we sensed there was an undercurrent of resentment against the BJP when large numbers of people started gathering at our rallies.”

People were unhappy about a lack of jobs and high food and fuel prices, he said. Many were also angry with the changes in how army soldiers are recruited.

“With the Congress and SP fighting the election together as part of INDIA alliance, all anti-BJP voters came together to vote for us,” he added.

Mr Kidwai says that – notwithstanding the surprisingly good performance of the opposition – in some ways, it was a missed opportunity, as the INDIA bloc failed to read the voters’ minds and did not sense the disquiet they felt with Mr Modi’s government.

“They spoke about joblessness, rural economic distress and were able to win over many voters – but there were lots of gaps in their strategy,” he says. “The NDA’s third term has come only because of weaknesses in the INDIA bloc. They could have forged alliances in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha and that would have made their tally stronger.”

But now that the NDA – and Mr Modi – are back in power, INDIA needs to institutionalise its alliance and Mr Gandhi, “the chief architect of the alliance”, must lead from the front, Mr Kidwai adds.

“It’s unlikely that the government will stop going after the opposition. But it also can’t be business as usual for the government. They cannot continue with their politics of vendetta; it will have to be toned down.

“The strength of opposition in parliament would allow restoration of functional ties in parliament. There’s great need for coalition politics now. And Congress as the single largest opposition party in the coalition must lead from the front.

“The Gandhis consider themselves as trustees of power, not power-wielders. But now the time has come to change. Rahul Gandhi has to take on the mantle of leadership and lead.”