On June 9, 2024, I attended the church service. It was the first Sunday after the results of the elections held for the 18th Lok Sabha were announced. It was after a long time that I met many of the parishioners. They knew that I am a journalist. That may be the reason why many of them confided in me their sense of relief over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's failure to win 400-plus seats.

Many of them believe that their prayers have been answered. In the first three elections under Jawaharlal Nehru, the Congress won over 400 seats. In 1984, the Congress under Nehru's grandson, Rajiv Gandhi, won more than 400 seats. Nobody dreaded such numbers. Why was there so much fear about Modi crossing 400 seats?

Modi came to power in 2014, promising development without discrimination. He specifically mentioned that nothing mattered to him more than the nation's progress. He could not translate into reality some of the promises he made during the campaign like increasing the value of the rupee against the dollar, bringing trillions of rupees stashed away in Swiss banks and bringing down prices of essential items, including petroleum products.

Nonetheless, his attention was concentrated on building infrastructure, some of which were totally wasteful, like the gigantic statue of Sardar Patel, using Chinese know-how and material, and initiating the introduction of a bullet train between Ahmedabad and Mumbai. The cost of the project has gone up so much that to get back the investment, the train ticket will have to be priced substantially above airfare.

Yet, the common people thought that Modi was a visionary who dared to take risks. They saw his foolish decision to demonetise Rs 1000 and Rs 500 notes as nobly-intentioned. But, then, who doesn't admire an adventurous person? He was able to gain the support of a larger number of people, which manifested in the spectacular victory the BJP achieved in the 2019 elections. The success went to his head.

He began to believe that he was destined to remain prime minister forever. The BJP, which claims to be the largest party in the world, lost its identity as all decisions were taken not by the party leaders but by the two bearded gentlemen from Gujarat.

Amit Shah is no longer the dreaded minister, yet at Chandrababu Naidu's swearing-in ceremony, he was publicly seen scolding a former lady Governor and wagging his finger. He does not know that the Tamils are a self-respecting community and they would never tolerate anyone behaving in this manner. Being a party person, she has issued a statement to pooh-pooh the ridicule she underwent.

Modi began forgetting his duty to function within the bounds of the Constitution. He exposed his lack of vision and dependence on superstitious beliefs while fighting Corona. His megalomania was such that he made not only boastful claims about fighting COVID-19 but also ensured that every certificate of vaccination carried his photograph. He wasted scarce resources on holding the G-20 Summit.

India became the G-20 chairman by rotation, but he projected it as his most outstanding achievement. He touted the Supreme Court verdict on Ayodhya as his personal victory. Anyone who has read the verdict knows that it was a compromise formula, not justice, that triumphed. The verdict will come true only when a magnificent mosque also comes up in the land allotted for the purpose on the court's order.

An impression had gained ground that Modi wanted to declare India a theocratic nation. There were theories that the 100th birthday of the RSS in 2025 was the occasion to do so. Some of his own partymen declared their intention to amend the Constitution to make Hinduism the pre-eminent religion of the country.

In any case, Modi himself began behaving like a Hindu leader, taking visiting heads of state to the evening aarti at Varanasi, while his predecessor took them to such campuses as Infosys in Bengaluru. He began increasingly wearing saffron and visiting temples wherever he went. He thought that by projecting himself as the Hindu Hriday Samrat, he could remain forever in power.

Indians are a deeply spiritual community. Hinduism is more a way of life than a religion. It gives the people freedom to worship in any manner. One can even be an atheist without having to renounce Hinduism. Hinduism has survived for millennia, and it does not need defenders like Modi, whose vision is confined to the electronic voting machines.

Even after centuries of rule by the Mughals, Muslims and the British, the Hindus constitute 80 percent of the population. Their temples, way of worship, and numerical strength remain as they are. Modi and Co. would like them to be guided by his party.

Modi saw himself in the role of a Hindu Pope, little realising that the Pope has ceased to be a source of political power. If John Paul II played a role in Poland, resulting in the collapse of the Soviet empire, it was because of his moral authority, not political authority. It is Modi's misunderstanding of Hinduism that foiled all his plans. One result I was eagerly waiting for was from Banswara in Rajasthan.

It was while campaigning in Banswara that Modi called Muslims "infiltrators" and "baby producers". I wondered how the Prime Minister of a secular nation could call people belonging to the single largest minority community names like this. I hoped that the Election Commission of India would openly reprimand Modi and stop him from campaigning for at least one or two days. Nothing of the sort happened, as the EC members are beholden to Modi and his Sancho Panza.

When pressure was put on the EC, it issued a notice to BJP president JP Nadda instead of Modi. Modi thought that his comment on Muslims would fetch him votes. When the results came, Rajkumar Roat, who contested on the Bharat Adivasi Party with the support of the INDIAlliance, won the seat. He defeated the BJP candidate by a margin of 2.45 lakh votes. The EC failed to punish Modi, but the people of Banswara punished him severely.

Another constituency whose result I eagerly awaited was Allahabad or Prayagraj. It is one of the most sacred places for the Hindus as it is there that three rivers — Ganga, Yamuna, and the Saraswati — merge. The Saraswati is believed to flow underground. It elected two prime ministers, Lal Bahadur Shastri and VP Singh. It also elected Murli Manohar Joshi of the BJP.

For the first time in 40 years, the Congress won this seat. The last time it won Allahabad was when Amitabh Bachchan was fielded by the Congress in 1984. I guessed the outcome from a photo of Amit Shah addressing an election rally there. All his listeners were seated on sofas and chairs, whereas Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav were not able to address a rally as they were virtually mobbed.

Of course, the best result came from Faizabad, of which Ayodhya is a part. It was in the name of Ayodhya that the BJP has been winning elections, first under LK Advani and later under Modi. It is a rule that the trump card cannot be used all too often. Ayodhya lost its appeal when the centuries-old Babri Masjid was demolished.

The BJP always wanted to build a "magnificent" temple on the spot where the masjid stood. In a country that has lakhs of temples, big and small, adding one more is no big deal. However, there are few temples dedicated to Ram compared to Hanuman. Modi's project was to convert Ram into a national icon and win votes in his name.

Ram is one of the 10 avatars of Lord Vishnu. People always revered him because he was Maryada Purushothaman. Ram Rajya is like the Kingdom of God, to be built on earth. It is a dream, a Utopia. How could Modi usher in Ram Rajya when he has no compunction in telling lies? When his brother Bharat went to the forest to bring Ram back to Ayodhya, the first thing Ram asked was about a small minority group in Ayodhya and how they were doing.

In contrast, Modi was demonising the Muslim community in the mistaken belief that it would fetch him votes. Modi underestimated the resentment against him and Yogi Adityanath in Ayodhya. Many small temples and mosques were demolished to construct the Ram temple. They were not given any compensation worth naming.

However, the rich and influential bought acres of land in and around Ayodhya in the hope that they could make a killing by selling the land after a few years. Such was the hype Modi created. Nehru once famously said about a musician that she was the empress of music, whereas he was only a prime minister.

For the first time in history, Modi donned the robes of a priest to do Pran Prathishta of the idol of Ram Lalla. What knowledge or competence did he have to do so? People were not convinced about his intentions, especially to consecrate a temple that was far from complete. Even the neighbouring constituencies, including the one represented by the late BJP leader Kalyan Singh's son, were lost. The double-engine government that relied on the use of bulldozers had no takers.

If the BSP was not there, the BJP would have lost many more seats. The people of India have rejected outright the BJP's claim that they are the custodians of Hinduism. The faithful would see the result as Ram's way of dealing with those who tried to cash in on His name.

One of my friends in the USA told me about how some BJP supporters there were cursing the people of Ayodhya. In fact, they have been using social media to attack the Hindus there. The BJP leaders have mysteriously stopped using the Jai Shri Ram slogan.

In his first speech after the result, Modi invoked Jagannath instead of Ram. Such is his religiosity. He chose Jagannath not because he is his favourite deity but because the BJP could betray its ally Biju Janata Dal and win the state by hitting below the belt of Biju Patnaik.

In fact, one of his spokesmen courted controversy when he said that Jagannathan (the Lord of the Universe) is a worshipper of Modi. A day later, Modi himself claimed that he was not born biologically but was sent to the world to perform certain duties. In other words, he was not a human being but an avatar of God. The EC should have sought clarification because only human beings can contest elections and form a government, not divine beings.

The anti-incumbency in states like Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh and Odisha helped the party garner some seats. It could not do much in states like West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, where the ruling party provided stiff resistance. The BSP did not win a single seat, but it helped the BJP win in several constituencies, such as in MP, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh. Modi should be grateful to Mayawati, who did nothing to harness people's feelings to turn the tide against the ruling party. Had she been on the INDIAlliance board, Modi would have taken vanaprastha.

Results show that Modi's meditation did not have any effect on the outcome. The results are a drubbing for the attempt to hijack Hinduism in the name of Hindutva and implement the Manusmriti-driven agenda of the Sangh Parivar.

Incidentally, the NDA does not have a single Muslim MP, whereas the people elected 24 of them, the single largest number on the Congress ticket. There are also 13 Christians elected this time. Is it any wonder that all democratic-minded people feel a sense of relief over the failure to fulfil the ambition of ushering in a Hindu Rashtra? This election reaffirms India's commitment to its pluralistic and secular foundations.