India’s political scene will be hot in 2025. There will be assembly elections in Delhi and Bihar as well as BMC elections. Congress will focus on organizational changes, while BJP and RSS will organize big events to celebrate their 100 years. Prime Minister Modi will turn 75, and the BJP will also get a new national president. 2024 was an important year for Indian politics, in which the Bharatiya Janata Party retained its power, but opposition parties also presented their challenge. State elections, farmers’ movements, national security, and social issues gave a new turn to politics. This year shows that Indian politics is no longer limited to only two major parties, but regional and socialist parties are also playing an important role in national politics. 2024 proved that Indian politics can see more change and conflict in 2025.
The year 2025 offers an opportunity to look beyond elections. In 2024, politics in India took a surprising turn. These developments were unprecedented in some places, rapid or unexpected in others. It showed that regional parties are now increasingly powerful in Indian politics and may play a key role in national politics in the future. 2025 offers an opportunity to look beyond elections. It may be a year in which governance takes center stage. One message of the 2024 Lok Sabha election was that people prefer continuity with moderation. But both the BJP and the Congress seem to have deliberately chosen to misread the mandate. Their political positions have hardened, and they have taken their bitter rivalry into everyday politics, Parliament, and beyond.
The ugly ruckus in Parliament and the filing of an FIR against opposition leader Rahul Gandhi will only intensify the animosity. For normalcy to return, both sides will have to find a middle ground for dialogue and negotiation while simultaneously pursuing their respective political and ideological goals. It seems unlikely that the politics over the temple and mosque will end in 2025. At least 18 petitions relating to 10 mosques/mazaars are currently pending in the courts. Most of the new cases claiming Hindu rights over Muslim sites have been filed in Uttar Pradesh. The assembly elections are still more than two years away, but the political scene in Uttar Pradesh is already heating up.
The key assembly elections in 2025 will be a test for the three major political brands—Nitish Kumar, Arvind Kejriwal, and Narendra Modi. The Bihar assembly elections in October-November 2025 will be a big test for the brand Nitish, whose political obituary has been written more than once. The election will also test the political mettle of Tejashwi Yadav, who has long been waiting to become Bihar chief minister. Will Arvind Kejriwal, who has been in power in Delhi since 2013, be able to bring the AAP to power for a third consecutive time? Today, both Kejriwal’s image and his brand of politics are at stake. The prime minister’s brand value will also be tested in both Bihar and Delhi. The BJP has been politically uninhabited in Delhi for more than two and a half decades, despite winning all seven Lok Sabha seats three times since 2014.
The One Nation, One Election Bill to hold simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly elections—now referred to a joint committee of Parliament—will test the BJP on whether it can get its way on the matter. In the past 10 years, the BJP has managed to get controversial legislation passed, including a bill to bifurcate Jammu and Kashmir and convert the (erstwhile) state into two union territories. The situation is different now. Almost the entire opposition is united against the One Nation, One Election proposal. Caste, census, UCC In a year when the central government intends to launch the delayed decennial census exercise, the rhetoric on caste will become even more shrill. The big question is whether the government will include caste in the census.
The issue of caste and social justice can counter the BJP’s Hindutva campaign, and this is why the BJP is giving political slogans like “Batenge toh Katenge” and “Ek Hain toh Surakshit Hain.” Attempts to push the UCC can create new rifts in politics. The rhetoric in Parliament over B. R. Ambedkar’s legacy indicates that the gloves are completely off. The Prime Minister emphasized the need to move towards a “secular civil code” instead of the current “communal civil code.” The year 2024 has been full of important changes and events in Indian politics. This year has been a year of challenges for the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, especially the Lok Sabha elections, opposition unity, and political changes in the states. At the same time, it shows that the BJP will have to work hard continuously to maintain its hold in the states.
2024 was an important year for Indian politics, in which the Bharatiya Janata Party retained power, but opposition parties also posed their challenge. State elections, farmers’ movements, national security, and social issues gave a new turn to politics. This year shows that Indian politics is no longer limited to only two major parties, but regional and socialist parties are also playing an important role in national politics. 2024 proved that Indian politics may see more change and conflict in 2025.
