NEW DELHI: India’s prime minister-in-waiting Narendra Modi arrived in New Delhi on Saturday to wild jubilation by his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporters and dedicated his landslide victory to his 1.25 billion compatriots.

In Gujarat, the previous day, he had likened India’s cultural diversity to different threads that came together to weave its national fabric.

In a moment of humility with his estranged party colleagues, Mr Modi reached to touch the feet of senior BJP leader Lal Kishan Advani. He had opposed Mr Modi’s candidature for the top job.

Mr Advani acknowledged the Hindu salutation from his junior colleague and took him in an emotionally charged embrace before a party meeting at the BJP headquarters in Delhi. Former minister Sushma Swaraj shook hands with Mr Modi, with whom she had been reportedly aloof in support of Mr Advani.

The BJP’s parliamentary party is scheduled to meet here on Tuesday to formally elect Narendra Modi as its leader. A date for the swearing-in is expected to be announced soon.

Mr Modi arrived in Varanasi late in the night and offered prayers to River Ganges.

He is expected to retain his strategically vital Varanasi seat and vacate Vadodara in Gujarat, having won from both constituencies. This reported move is part of the BJP’s future plans to consolidate its hold on electorally rich Uttar Pradesh. The BJP confounded all pundits by grabbing a whopping 73 seats in the state out of 80. Opponents have ascribed the win to communal polarisation the BJP engineered.

The main development on Saturday was Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s meeting with President Pranab Mukherjee, who accepted his resignation but asked him to continue in office till Mr Modi is ready to take charge. In his departure address to the nation, Dr Singh, who had once described a Modi regime as a potential disaster for India, said the recent polls had deepened democracy in the country

“Today, as I prepare to lay down office, I am aware that well before the final judgment that we all await from the Almighty, there is judgment in the court of public opinion that all elected

officials and governments are required to submit themselves to,” Dr Singh said. “Fellow citizens, each one of us should respect the judgment that you have delivered. The just concluded elections have deepened the foundations of our democratic polity.”

US President Barrack Obama called Dr Singh to say he will miss the Indian leader. In a significantly different format earlier, US Secretary of State John Kerry tweeted his message to Mr. Modi. “Look forward to working w/you/growing shared prosperity/security w/world’s largest democracy.”

The German ambassador in India said Modi was welcome to visit Germany as prime minister of India without a visa.

During the telephone chat with the American president, Dr. Singh noted that their relationship had seen “transformation” over the last 10 years and expressed confidence that the Narendra Modi government would “do everything” to promote it further.

“It has been a great pleasure to serve with you, there are very few people in public life that I have admired or appreciated more,” Mr Obama told Dr. Singh.

“Your leadership has been an important factor in evolving a more cooperative framework in addressing global challenges,” Dr. Singh told him.

“Your tenure has been good for India and India-US relations. I will miss working with you on a day-to-day basis,” President Obama said.

“I hope you get some rest and I hope to see you soon,” Dr Singh replied.

COMMUNISTS BERATE MODI: The communists who had been absent from the main theatre of the long and bitter election campaign came back on Saturday with a sharp criticism of Mr Modi.

The “myths” catapulting him to power are bound to explode sooner than later, CPI (M) politburo member Sitaram Yechury wrote in the party organ. He claimed that the time to pay back to those who financed this election campaign is approaching which will further burden people.

“We are on the morrow of the pay-back time to those who financed this election campaign. This can only mean further imposition of burdens on the people, forget providing them any relief.”

Mr. Yechury said that the “subterranean campaign of Hindutva undercurrent will only sharpen communal polarisation and threaten our secular democratic foundations…How effectively both these challenges (of economic burden and communalism) are met, will define the contours of the future for our people and the country.”

Published in Dawn, May 18th, 2014