There are other shifts, some stunning, some subtle. This will be India’s first post-1991 secular government elected without any help from the Left and in spite of its bitter opposition. So the voter has also junked the idea that Indian secularism needs certificates of legitimacy from the Left. Or that, somehow, you had to be godless to be secular.

Such a ringing endorsement of incumbency also busts the myth that an angry voter throws out everybody. A mature, aspirational one thinks coolly and rewards good performance. You see that across states: the Congress scripts a brilliant revival in Uttar Pradesh but has its poorest score for any state in next-door Bihar where Nitish Kumar runs its first decent government in three decades. Similarly, nobody is swayed so easily by abuse and innuendo, particularly when directed at a leader seen as decent, honest, modest and well-meaning. The BJP erred grievously in making a man like Dr Manmohan Singh the main target of its attack, for being “weak and ineffectual,” because it was contra-factual — and the voter had the equanimity to judge that. On the contrary, in this environment of insecurity, with terror attacks and job losses, India has shown that it finds greater comfort with a leader, mature and understated.

His party now stands by him and its leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi have been wise extending to him the respect and trust he so richly deserves. Having risked his head on his instinct twice, on economic reforms in 1991 and the nuclear deal in 2008, Dr Singh will now feel the burden of high expectations. This mandate is such it leaves you no excuses.

... contd.