NEW DELHI: In politics, there are decades when nothing happens, and days when decades happen. Was June 4, 2024, one such day? On the eve of the parliamentary results, pollsters swore by a " purna bahumat ", a resounding majority for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It seemed almost certain, except perhaps to those who had actually voted in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Haryana. The biggest setback for the BJP came in Uttar Pradesh, the state often described as the road to Delhi’s throne. Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the party won only 33 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state, a steep fall from 62 in 2019 and 71 in 2014. What had long seemed an indomitable juggernaut finally stumbled. The Modi-led BJP finished well short of the 272 majority mark, securi

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