The messages doing the rounds just before the election results were announced on 23 May were on the lines of “What can India expect if…?” “What should we brace for?”

Those who had braced themselves for a BJP-led NDA victory in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, were well aware of what they needed to brace themselves for. The last few years have offered some indication.

There is the assumption that ‘bracing’ will help. It is unlikely. Bracing helps to break a fall, either in a crash landing or in a somewhat evenly-matched martial contest.

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