Modi shifts gears: Shuns ‘Jai Shree Ram’ for ‘Jai Jagannath’ in Lok Sabha Poll victory speech. Here’s why

In an unexpected move, Narendra Modi on Tuesday started his Lok Sabha election 2024 victory speech by chanting “Jai Jagannath” instead of usual chant ‘Jai Shree Ram’. In the speech, he conciously avoided the mention Uttar Pradesh and Maharashta, where BJP witnessed drubbing losses. 

Despite BJP's focus on the Ram Temple as a key campaign issue, Samajwadi Party's Dalit leader Awadhesh Prasad defeated the BJP's sitting MP in Ayodhya, part of the Faizabad constituency, a suprising political shift. Meanwhile, The BJP is set to form its first government in Odisha, winning 78 of 147 assembly seats. This victory ends over two decades of Naveen Patnaik's Biju Janata Dal (BJD) rule, which secured 51 seats, while Congress won 14.

As per political experts, ‘Jai Jagannath’ instead on ‘Jai Shree Ram’ is a clear indication of the setbacks and gains made by BJP in Odisha and Uttar Pradesh, resptectively. 

“In Odisha, BJP is all set to form the government and in the Lok Sabha elections too Odisha has performed well. This will be the first time that Jagannath’s land will have a BJP CM. BJP has also won seats in Kerala. Our workers in Kerala have made many sacrifices. For many generations they have been fighting and doing seva. And for generations, not years, the moment they waited for has come today.”

The BJP has won 240 seats, while the Congress has won 99

Official results from the Election Commission showed the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance won 294 of the 543 seats, more than the 272 needed for a majority but far fewer than what had been expected. For the first time since the BJP swept to power in 2014, it did not secure a majority on its own, winning 240 seats, far fewer than the record 303 it won in the 2019 election.

In the election, the opposition Congress party won 99 seats, improving its tally from 52 in the 2019 polls. Among its key allies, the Samajwadi Party won 37 seats in Uttar Pradesh in a major upset for the BJP, the All India Trinamool Congress took 29 seats in West Bengal, and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam won 22 seats in Tamil Nadu.

Combined, the opposition INDIA coalition won a total of 232 seats.