NEW DELHI–The Prime Ministers Museum in India’s capital saw a steady stream of visitors on the morning of June 9.
The museum is a state-of-the-art, high-tech homage to the lives, visions, and work of the 15 prime ministers that India has had since it gained independence, beginning with Jawaharlal Nehru and ending with Narendra Modi—first elected in 2014 and sworn in for a rare third term at India’s presidential palace on the evening of June 9. The museum provides a lens through which to view the office of prime minister as Mr. Modi takes on the role once again.
The museum is housed in Teen Murti Bhavan, the one-time residence of Nehru. On June 9, the crossroads facing the museum’s gate was decked with massive banners welcoming the seven heads of state who attended Mr. Modi’s swearing-in. The South Asian leaders were joined by 9,000 guests—a star-studded list that included foreign dignitaries, celebrities, and corporate leaders—at the swearing-in, which took place just a few minutes away.
Outside, the historic Lutyens’ Delhi neighborhood—which houses the Indian Parliament, the Rashtrapati Bhavan (the presidential palace), and other core government offices—was decked with massive banners congratulating the Indian public on electing Modi for a third term and hailing him as “the creator of Modern India.”
Inside the museum, the largely digitalized Narendra Modi pavilion explains the “Modi Doctrine” and acquaints viewers with Mr. Modi’s policies in India’s neighborhoods, his cultural diplomacy, his security impetus, his life, and his achievements. A special virtual reality helicopter ride on the same floor—available with an add-on ticket—takes viewers on a 3D virtual tour of some of India’s most high-profile projects, including massive, strategic infrastructure projects along the nation’s border.
Until Mr. Modi’s third swearing-in, Nehru was the only prime minister in Indian history to serve three consecutive terms. Now, Nehru’s party, the Indian National Congress (INC)—India’s oldest political party—leads INDIA, the opposition alliance against the National Democratic Alliance led by Mr. Modi.
When Mr. Modi took the oath of office in the presence of Indian President Droupadi Murmu on the highly guarded premises of Rashtrapati Bhavan, he matched Nehru’s hat trick 60 years after his death. However, typical of the dynamic nature of India’s electoral democracy, with its pivotal prime minister’s office, Mr. Modi now faces a stronger opposition than Nehru faced—ironically one led by the INC, whose 2024 electoral performance is one of its worst to date.
Mr. Modi’s first and second terms coincided with a period of unparalleled growth for India. India watchers have said that his first decade in office increased the power of his office. It remains to be seen how his power and brand will grow during his third term.
Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Washington-based Wilson Center, told The Epoch Times that, as a dominant political figure, Mr. Modi has added power and prestige to the office of India’s prime minister.
“I would argue that in the Modi era, the office of the prime minister and the institution or the prime ministership has become even more powerful just because of Modi himself and his own power and popularity and influence,” he said.
Mumin Chen, a political science professor at Taiwan’s Chung Hsing University, is a South Asia expert and served as a diplomat in New Delhi for four years. He said that in his third term, Mr. Modi’s government will have to be “more creative and bold” in bringing reforms in economic areas. According to Mr. Chen, many investors pulled out of China but did not relocate to India because of numerous impediments.
“BJP [Mr. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party] has to find new strategies, particularly how to improve [the] domestic business environment so as to really attract foreign investment in manufacturing sectors,” Mr. Chen said.
Neeraj Singh Manhas is a special adviser for South Asia at the South Korea-based Parley Policy Initiative. In an email to The Epoch Times, he highlighted Mr. Modi’s first step after coming to office on June 9.
“Just a day after taking office for his third term, [Prime Minister] Modi signed the first file approving the PM Kisan Nidhi for the welfare of 9.3 crore [93 million] farmers, allocating INR 20,000 crores [$2.4 billion]. This swift action demonstrates his commitment to addressing domestic welfare from the outset,” Mr. Manhas said.
‘Centrality’ of Prime Minister’s Office Bolstered
India watchers have said that Mr. Modi’s power has strengthened the “centrality” of the prime minister’s office, which plays the most significant role in the structure of the Indian governance system.Harsh V. Pant is vice president of studies and foreign policy at New Delhi’s Observer Research Foundation and professor of international relations at the India Institute of King’s College, London. The prime minister’s office is central to the structure of the Indian government, he told The Epoch Times in a phone conversation.
A tour of the Prime Ministers Museum demonstrates clearly how each Indian prime minister has brought a different approach to managing one of the world’s most diverse countries—a nation with more than 100 languages, 700 different tribes, every major religion in the world, and a correspondingly complex state of national and geopolitical affairs. Mr. Pant said that in line with India’s evolving history, Mr. Modi has brought his own unique approach to the office.
“The centrality of the prime minister to Indian governance structures cannot be underestimated. I think in some ways, Mr. Modi has brought his own personality into this office like his predecessors, but what I think he has done in some ways is to restore the centrality and the power of the prime minister’s office,” Mr. Pant said, noting that the coalition governments that ruled India before Mr. Modi’s arrival were limited by the “compulsions” of coalition politics and calls for appeasement and compromise.
Development and growth has remained a central message across Mr. Modi’s branding, beginning with the prime minister’s first term in 2014. Inside the museum’s Modi pavilion, a screen with a full image of Mr. Modi quotes a speech from Aug. 15, 2021, given during his second term, on the occasion of India’s Independence Day. In his speech, Mr. Modi said:
“This is the time, this is the right time—a precious time for India. There’s nothing which you can’t do. There’s nothing that you can’t achieve. You should rise now, you should get together, understand your potential, and realize your responsibilities. This is the time, this is the right time—a precious time for India.”
Mr. Modi’s second term came with a massive majority in India’s Parliament, while his third elections saw the BJP falling short of a majority. That meant that in order to form a government, Mr. Modi had to rely on his pre-election alliance for support.
Mr. Kugelman said that as he begins his third term, Mr. Modi’s power has been “clipped at the wings a bit,” and he said it will be interesting to see how his term develops.
“He will be governing within a coalition for the first time, and we will see if that impacts his own power and clout and by extension, the power and clout of the prime ministership, but I wouldn’t overstate that change,” Mr. Kugelman said.
Mr. Pant noted that Mr. Modi relies on his alliance partners for about 30 seats. During his third term, he will need to continue to rely on his partners in India’s Parliament.
“Therefore, I think it will be interesting to observe whether his agenda changes, whether his style of governance changes,” he said.
It’s very unlikely that India’s system of governance will revert to what it was pre-Modi, according to Mr. Pant.
“We are in for interesting times ahead, both in terms of how we will see Mr. Modi govern India and how we will see the prime minister’s office once again evolve in line with the political requirements of this particular governing coalition,” he said.
Mr. Kugelman said he doesn’t anticipate that Mr. Modi’s power will ebb because of the election results.
“I think that we will continue to see a Prime Minister Modi who is very powerful, very popular, very influential, and that will ensure that the prime ministership position will continue to be a very prominent one and certainly the most powerful post in India,” he said.
Mr. Chen compared India’s recent election results to the results of Taiwan’s elections.
Facing Challenges Ahead
Although his opponents have described Mr. Modi as a dictator and someone who does not have the best interests of Indian democracy at heart, democracy has been central to the messaging of the Modi brand.Just inside the entrance of the Prime Ministers Museum, where the museum’s spacious lawns begin, a greeting from Mr. Modi echoes that message: “Future generations will discover how [India’s Prime Ministers] came from diverse backgrounds through a vibrant democracy. The Museum traces the fascinating journey through our history and offers a panoramic view of the new directions and new forms that India’s development is taking, turning the dream of a new India into reality.”
Analysts add a note of caution, given how dynamic India’s reality is. The election results last week amply displayed the nature of Indian democracy. However, India’s national security is also embedded in a complex geopolitical situation, as the country shares increasingly militarized borders with China and Pakistan. At the Prime Ministers Museum, visitors see this reality repeatedly displayed throughout the time periods of various Indian prime ministers.
Coinciding with Mr. Modi’s third swearing-in, Pakistan and China released a joint statement on June 8 opposing any “unilateral action” for the resolution of all outstanding issues in South Asia, including in Kashmir. On the evening of June 9, just an hour before Mr. Modi’s swearing-in, a terror attack killed nine and injured 33 pilgrims near a Hindu shrine in the Reasi region of Jammu and Kashmir.
Mr. Pant said that these incidents should be seen as linked with Mr. Modi’s swearing-in, and he predicted that Pakistan and China will coordinate their actions going forward. He said he believes that Pakistan will create “more mischief” in order to remain relevant in the discourse on Kashmir.
“The leaders in Pakistan who don’t want stable relationship with India are sending a message, perhaps to Mr. Modi, that despite his attempts to marginalize Pakistan in the Indian foreign policy, that Pakistan is almost irrelevant in the Kashmir dispute—the ability of Pakistan and its military establishment to create mischief remains a strong one, and this is an attempt to show off that any kind of stability that India might be perceiving can be shattered by militants at will,” he said.
Mr. Manhas told The Epoch Times in an email that the attack on pilgrims, at almost the same time as Mr. Modi’s swearing-in ceremony, can be seen as an attempt to undermine a sense of security and stability in India at a critical political juncture.
“It aimed at challenging the incoming administration’s policies of MODI 3.0, on National Security and testing the resolve of the new government,” Mr. Manhas said. “Such acts are often designed to incite fear and provoke a response, highlighting the ongoing challenges in countering terrorism.”
The China–Pakistan joint statement, coinciding with Mr. Modi’s swearing-in and the attack, will exert pressure on the prime minister with regard to his policies in Kashmir, which witnessed a high voter turnout after decades of low turnout.
“The timing of the joint statement, alongside the attack, can be seen as a coordinated effort to challenge India’s sovereignty and policy decisions in the area,” Mr. Manhas said. “This alignment might be aimed at reinforcing their position on the international stage and sending a message to the newly sworn-in Indian government about their stance on the Kashmir issue.”
Such coordinated actions underscore the complexities and geopolitical tensions of the South Asian region, he noted.
