A group of Indian expats in Riyadh celebrates the outcome of the Bihar assembly elections.

A cross-section of Indian expatriates in Riyadh celebrated the outcome of the provincial elections in Bihar in which India’s ruling Baharatiya Janata Party (BJP) suffered a crushing blow. The much-publicized election and its results declared on Sunday topped social media trends, especially among Indian expatriates living in the Kingdom.

About 100 community leaders and members, including Nadeem Tarin, chairman of Riyadh-based Delhi Public School (DPS), and Dilnawaz Romi, a prominent doctor and community leader, were part of a celebratory event on Sunday.

Other prominent participants, who spoke at the event, were Ali Siddiqui, Shamim Raza, Shaikh Abdullah, Abid Hussain, Anis Alam, Talib ur Rehman, Perwaiz Rahman, Junaid Khan, Arshad Masood, Syed Amanullah, Feroz Nomani, Mohammed Abbas and Naseem Akhter. All speakers were of the opinion that the BJP defeat will remind the top BJP leaders of their “responsibilities and shrink their political space in India.”

Although the results of the five-phase vote conducted over three weeks in Bihar do not affect Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, many here view the outcome as a sign of voter disenchantment with his 17-month old rule.

“The victory of the grand alliance of secular parties in Bihar elections is a defining moment in Indian history,” said Tarin. “The result sends out a clear message that the language of development must be clean and not interspersed with metaphors of hatred and divisiveness.”

“The news of BJP’s defeat was extensively covered by international media, including the BBC, The Daily Telegraph and The Washington Post as well as all channels and newspapers of the Gulf,” said Romi.

He expressed happiness and congratulated the people of Bihar for “their political maturity and for electing the government in such a decisive manner by negating the politics of intolerance.”

Another speaker Shahidi said: “This is the victory of secular and democratic forces of India.”

Syed Muneer expressed happiness at the outcome. The final party position in the 243-member Bihar Assembly after all results were declared were Janata Dal-United 71 seats, Rashtriya Janata Dal 80, Congress 27, Bharatiya Janata Party 53, Lok Jan Shakti Party 2, Hindustani Awam Morcha 1, Community Party of India 3, Rashtriya Lok Samta Party 2 and Independents 4.

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