Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was seeing immensely proud of Bhartiya Janata Party's massive wins in four out of five assembly elections, that took place in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Goa, Manipur and Uttarakhand, on Thursday said Holi has come early as predicted and that the poll results highlighted people's stamp of strong approval for BJP's pro-poor pro-active governance.
"We had said before that Holi will start from March 10...It's a 'victory 4' by our NDA workers...I thank all voters for participating in this festival of democracy and ensuring BJP this victory. For the first time, a CM will be elected for a second term," Modi said to the gathering.
He also added, "All exit polls have been proved wrong in Goa. BJP has scripted new history in Uttarakhand- for the first time a party has come for a second consecutive term in the state."
"When we formed government in 2019 (at Centre), 'experts' said it was because of the 2017 victory (in UP)... I believe the same 'experts' will say that 2022 election result will decide the fate of 2024 national elections," Modi highlighted.
He also hit out at opposition parties for raising questions about the government's efforts to evacuate stranded Indians from war-hit Ukraine.
''These people also tried to regionalise 'Operation Ganga'. These people have given a different colour of regionalism and communalism to every scheme - it is a major worry for India's future,'' the prime minister said.
Modi said, ''India has a connection with the countries involved in the war - economically, security wise, education wise and politically as well. India's several needs are connected to these countries.'' ''The ongoing war is affecting every country across the world. India is on peace's side and hopes that all problems are resolved with deliberations,'' he added.
The BJP is set to return to power in politically crucial Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa as results for the assembly elections in the four states along with Punjab are declared on Thursday. The Aam Aadmi Party is posed to form its first government in Punjab.
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Final results are expected to be out in a few hours but unlikely to change much. Party workers in the state staged impromptu rallies to celebrate and smeared each other in the BJP's saffron colours.
Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday said the BJP's "grand victory" in Uttar Pradesh is the result of the people's faith in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's welfare programmes for villages, the poor and farmers.
He also said that the state's people have put their stamp on Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's good governance and an administration free from fear and corruption.
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With UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath set to achieve the maiden feat of an incumbent returning to power in the state after serving a full term, BJP's emphatic win, if not as sweeping as in 2017, has made him all but first in a shrinking list of his party's regional satraps, more so as a very few of them symbolise its ideological purity combined with an image of a tough administrator like him.
Votes are being counted in five states - Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur - where state assembly elections were recently concluded. Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) is poised to return to power with a comfortable majority for an unprecedented second term in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is on course to a historic victory in Punjab, according to election results and trends on Thursday.
In the other two states of Manipur and Goa, which also went to polls in February-March, the BJP has emerged as the single largest party and is on course to form the government.