Abstract
The dominating story of the 2014 Indian elections was the clear triumph of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its leader Narendra Modi, together with a matching defeat of the Indian National Congress. In the run up to Delhi, the new political elite presided over a mix bag of two streams: the wave of ‘Hindutva’ and quest for economic revival. Interplay of the two will continue to provide a gauge for the direction of Indian politics and for the extent of their success or failure. This paper discusses the main ingredients of the election-relevant Indian scenario with reference to peculiarities and issues in the electoral process; the play of Hindutva ideology in the contemporary phase; and implications of the election results for the region and Pakistan. This discussion takes place in the backdrop of Indian political system, main players in the arena and new realities in the making. The main argument of the paper is, the success of BJP in elections offers both, promises of growth and apprehensions of decadence at domestic and regional levels. However, the reversal of economic progression or inability to deliver, can motivate the BJP to find distractions in the neighborhood.