Results of four state elections in India announced last week gave Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party a massive victory in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state. His Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 312 of the total 403 seats in the state, a monumental win considering it garnered only 47 seats in the last state elections in 2012.

In the wide-ranging debate over the factors which led to the win, many attribute it to Modi’s personal charisma and his single-handed ability to swing votes for his party. They called it the Modi “wave”, like in the 2014 general election, although BJP suffered setbacks in other states.

There are three broad possible implications — short, medium, and long term — of this BJP sweep in Uttar Pradesh.

… The writer is a senior fellow at S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.