India, June 6 -- In 2014, Narendra Modi became the second non-Congress Prime Minister in India to assume office on the strength of his party winning a parliamentary majority of its own. The first time this has happened was in 1977 when the Congress lost power in a landslide election held after the Emergency imposed in 1975. Modi's 2019 victory which saw the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) not just retaining but adding to its 2014 majority sent a loud and clear message that the BJP's parliamentary dominance was no flash in the pan.

When read with the failure of the Congress party to resurrect itself - it won a paltry 44 and 52 parliamentary seats in 2014 and 2019 -this gave an impression that Indian politics had become a one-sided contest. T...