THE decisive mandate the BJP got in two consecutive general elections in 2014 and 2019 indicated voters’ preference for political stability, according to former President Pranab Mukherjee, who said Narendra Modi “earned and achieved” the prime ministership. Mukherjee also said in his memoir that Narendra Modi became prime minister “through popular choice” unlike Manmohan Singh “who was offered the post by Sonia Gandhi”.

 

Every general election has its “importance because the issues that are debated during the polls reflect the various views and perceptions of the electorate”, Mukherjee wrote in his memoir “The Presidential Years, 2012-2017” which he completed before his death last year. “… The 2014 verdict was historic for two reasons. First, after three decades, a contesting political party received a decisive mandate instead of a fractured one,” he wrote.

 

The second reason, he said, is that the BJP emerged with a simple majority on its own in the Lok Sabha for the first time and was thus able to form the Government, though it still did so by co-opting its allies. “But the real winner was the electorate that came out in large numbers and voted decisively, thus indicating its preference for political stability, which it believed would result in development-oriented politics,” the former Congress stalwart and Union Minister wrote in the book, which was released on Tuesday.