TWO YEARS ago the Indian electorate(全体选民) handed a shock result to Narendra Modi. His Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had predicted a supermajority(绝对多数). Voters deprived it even of a simple majority and forced it into a coalition. Mr Modi’s “aura of invincibility(无敌光环)” had been lost, crowed commentators. Yet the party soon earned it back by flattening(彻底击败) rivals in most state elections that followed.
两年前，印度选民给了纳伦德拉·莫迪一个震惊的结果。他领导的印度人民党（BJP）曾预测会赢得绝对多数。选民却连简单多数都没有给它，迫使其组建联合政府。评论家们欢呼莫迪的“无敌光环”已经消失。然而，该党很快通过在后来的多数邦选举中碾压对手，重新赢回了这一光环。
A similar triumphalism(胜利主义) is in the air among Mr Modi’s critics now. Student protests in Delhi and elsewhere culminated(达到顶点) on July 25th with the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan, the education minister. Crucial exam papers had leaked repeatedly. The annual medical-college entrance test was compromised(被破坏/泄密) this May for the second time in three years. In most democracies a ministerial resignation for outright incompetence is embarrassing, but unexceptional. For Mr Modi’s government, which has made it a point of principle(作为原则) never to succumb(屈服) to pressure, it is extraordinary. That trope(老套说法) about a lost aura of invincibility is doing the rounds(流传) again. Will it prove more accurate this time?
现在，莫迪的批评者们也弥漫着类似的胜利主义情绪。德里及其他地方的学生抗议活动在7月25日达到高潮，教育部长达门德拉·普拉丹辞职。重要的考试试卷屡次泄露。年度医学院入学考试今年5月再次被泄题，这是三年内的第二次。在大多数民主国家，部长因明显无能而辞职虽然尴尬，但并不罕见。对于莫迪政府来说，它已将永不屈服于压力作为一项原则，因此这次辞职非同寻常。关于无敌光环已失的老调又在流传。这一次会证明更准确吗？
The BJP is not a party that smiles magnanimously(宽宏大量地) in the face of defeat. The lesson Mr Modi and his party took from their setback in 2024 was to double down on(加倍投入) their strengths. The BJP boosted its grassroots organisation, it splurged(挥霍) more on welfare, and its dirty-tricks department(肮脏手段部门) found novel ways to hobble(阻碍) the opposition. Yet recovering its swagger after the government’s first forced resignation in its 12 years in power is a different challenge from asserting itself at the polling booth.(然而，在政府执政12年来首次被迫辞职后恢复其趾高气扬的姿态，与在投票箱前证明自己，是截然不同的挑战。)
印度人民党不是一个面对失败会大度微笑的政党。莫迪及其政党从2024年的挫折中吸取的教训是加倍发挥自己的优势。该党加强了基层组织，在福利上大把花钱，其肮脏手段部门找到了阻碍反对派的新方法。然而，在政府执政12年来首次被迫辞职后恢复其趾高气扬的姿态，与在投票箱前证明自己，是截然不同的挑战。