Narendra Modi has begun his record-equalling third term as prime minister after many BJP stalwarts as well as NDA allies were accommodated in the list of 72 ministers who were sworn in at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Sunday.

While senior ministers such as Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, and Nirmala Sitharaman were retained, among the NDA allies who took oath were JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy, HAM (Secular) chief Jitan Ram Manjhi, JD(U) leader Rajiv Ranjan Singh, TDP’s K Ram Mohan Naidu and LJP-RV leader Chirag Paswan. 

Meanwhile, editorials in prominent dailies noted the challenges of the new government and the pressure tactics it might face. 

Hindustan Times noted that “in his second term, PM Modi had inducted specialists – S Jaishankar, Mansukh Mandaviya, Hardeep Singh Puri, and Ashwini Vaishnaw among others – to improve governance. That all of them find space in his third government, and the allies have been given only 11 slots in the council of ministers perhaps suggests that the BJP has had its way; 39 of the council have been Union ministers before; and 43 have served at least three terms in Parliament.”

That said, it is important to recognise that the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) with 16 MPs and the JD(U) with 12 MPs will be the twin pillars on which the third NDA government will rest…The BJP will have to acknowledge that it is an NDA government and recognise that governance needs to be a wider consultative process which may call for both negotiation and accommodation. This could cut both ways – the compulsions of coalition politics can work as a mechanism for checks and balances in government, but it could also skew policies. It is a given that some of the BJP’s more contentious agendas will have to wait – the TDP has already expressed its reservations about repealing the Muslim quota in some states, promised by the BJP during the poll campaign, and the Uniform Civil Code – just as some existing policies may now need to be tweaked; the JD(U), for instance, has already expressed concerns about the Agnipath Scheme.”

Meanwhile, in an editorial headlined “third time tricky”, the Times of India pointed to key challenges, such as employment, inequality, inflation, and coalition dharma. “Handouts have been every govt’s fallback option. But they have failed to kickstart the jobs engine and expand livelihood options and markets, especially for small and medium enterprises. Modi government expanded free rations to more people and by 5 years more, earlier this year. Free food grain for 80cr of India’s 142 cr population is a sobering reminder of the economic precarity of 60% of India’s population.”

“As portfolios find their ministers after hard bargains, the days ahead are a test for Modi, who has never headed a coalition. India’s macroeconomic indicators are strong, but it’s the micros where political compulsions of coalition will test NDA. Special status category for Andhra and Bihar, as Naidu and Nitish have demanded, will add to fiscal burden. Reforms will likely be slower. To run a stable coalition government will be a new experience, and a challenge, for the third-term PM.”

The Indian Express, in an editorial headlined “Rajdharma and coalition”, said that “continuity amid change with consensus and cooperation — this should mark new NDA’s governance, this is its mandate.”

“With the BJP falling short of the halfway mark, in its third version, the NDA will need to function as an alliance, in both letter and spirit, of parties that come from different regions and states of this large country. Going ahead, the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi must own the responsibility that comes with it — to listen and to build consensus. Their real challenge will be to give allies, be it Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP or Nitish Kumar’s JD(U), a hearing and a place at the decision-making table not just because they are constrained by the numbers or because the government’s survival depends upon it. They must do so because, after a verdict that has urged it to look within, this is the best way forward for the party — as it is for a large and diverse country.”

It also said that the “new Opposition must follow”. “It has been given a leg-up by the verdict and after a decade of being pushed to the edge, it can now take up its role more robustly. It must no longer take recourse to boycotts, or refuse to engage on crucial issues, in Parliament and outside it. The people have indicated in no uncertain terms that they want an accountable government and a strong Opposition. One is not possible without the other, and that’s the bottomline of the verdict.”

An editorial in the Telegraph earlier noted that “Modi, who has never brooked opposition to his penchant for capricious policymaking, will now find it hard to push the more imprudent elements of Viksit Bharat, his many-splendoured vision of an autarchy”. 

“Keen India watchers have been fretting over the fate of the nation’s long-imagined reforms. They despair that the country will sacrifice fiscal austerity at the altar of unbridled welfarism. A lot will depend on the lexical context of reforms itself: what will the rag-bag contain? The elements of the old screed on reforms are well known: fiscal prudence, improved public finance, big capital spending by both government and private sector, large resource allocations to education and healthcare sectors, better-directed subsidies, lower personal taxes with a broadened base, incentives to ignite investments, lowering of barriers to trade and foreign fund flows, and the ability to create a climate that fosters big and small businesses.”

“The incoming government will imperil its future if it ignores the groundswell of resentment. But more than anything else, young voters want to hear less spiritual babble and more business-speak. The arcane mantras and shibboleths need to be discarded.”

In an editorial on Saturday, The Hindu noted that the mandate is for Modi to change his approach to governance.

 “Unanimity on all issues is not easy, but consultations can be, and those should go beyond the NDA’s partners. Mr. Modi said he looked forward to more debates in the 18th Lok Sabha — a case that cannot be overstated, considering the erosion of parliamentary authority during the 17th Lok Sabha. Mr. Modi’s second term had begun with a promise of seeking the trust of all — sabka vishwas, as he called it. That promise remained largely unrealised, particularly with regard to the religious minorities. There was no numerical restraint during the second term for Mr. Modi, but during his third, his government’s survival will be dependent on non-BJP partners, necessitating compromises. The test of the democratic spirit will be in consensus building beyond the ruling coalition. The BJP, despite the setback it faced in the general election in heartland strongholds, expanded its footprint among new regions and communities in the south and the northeast, a point Mr. Modi noted in his speech at the NDA meeting. The Opposition too has emerged as a stronger presence in Parliament. The fresh mandate for Mr. Modi necessitates that he change his approach to governance and politics.”

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