A few months ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, India’s political opposition — the INDIA bloc — appeared battered, bruised, and ready to implode, lacking a clear, cohesive national-level strategy to counter the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Mixed manifesto announcements were being made one after the other to seduce different vulnerable groups in the electorate, while there seemed no clear national leader or voice to take on Narendra Modi, who made this election all about 'Brand Modi'. But, as the verdict showed, the INDIA bloc, i.e., the Congress party plus its allies, against all of the odds, won an impressive 234 seats.