| As the results of the European elections continue causing political turmoil across the EU and progressive parties are scratching their heads trying to figure out how to win back votes, perhaps they should look to their counterparts in India. Against the odds, they made gains against Narendra Modi and his right-wing party Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In Europe, French President Emmanuel Macron called snap elections for the National Assembly, following a landslide victory in the EU elections of the far-right Rassemblement national, while in Germany, Chancellor Olaf Scholz faced humiliation from the far-right AfD, as did other national leaders of progressive parties across the EU. Below are key points they could take away from their Indian counterparts from the June 2024 Indian national elections Connect, Connect, Connect. Voters want their leaders to be seen as being in touch with them. It may be too late for the ‘Jupiter President’ Macron, but other leaders need to start re-connecting as soon as possible. Rahul Gandhi, leader of the Indian National Congress (INC), learned this the hard way following his party’s humiliating defeat in 2019. During that election, he had to deal with insults describing him as the ‘spoilt prince’ due to his family background: His great-grandfather was Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister, while his grandmother, Indira Gandhi, and father, Rajiv Gandhi, were prime ministers too. By contrast, Modi took pride in calling himself a lowly chowkidar (night watchman), somebody who took pride in looking after his nation, in 2019. Following the crushing loss of 2019, Gandhi made huge efforts to get rid of his ‘spoilt prince’ image, embarking on a 3,500-km yatra (march), crisscrossing the country, meeting and greeting thousands of people. | 