Nothing helps the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) succeed like a bout of failure. Just six months ago, in the Lok Sabha election, the party fell 30 seats short of the majority mark of 272 in the lower house. Even though Narendra Modi was sworn in as prime minister for a historic third consecutive term, there was a sense of defeat in that victory. The BJP had vowed to storm back to power with a mammoth majority of more than 350 seats on its own rather than depend on its National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners for support, as it does now. For the Congress-led Opposition bloc, the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), the 234-seat tally may not have been enough to form a government at the Centre, but denying the BJP a majority still felt like a victory.