The resilience of Indian democracy over 4 decades

What binds 1984 and 2004, 2014 and 2024 is the ability of India’s institutions and citizens to deliver on their core mandate

1984: Four decades ago, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won two seats in the Lok Sabha election. The Congress crossed the 400 mark to form a government with the kind of majority that no government had ever seen till then, no government has seen ever since , and no government is likely to obtain in the future.

People watch the election results in Bengaluru on Tuesday. (AFP)

2004: Two decades ago, the BJP crashed from being the single largest party in the Lok Sabha and running a reasonably competent Union