India’s voters, 420m of them, have delivered a humbling lesson in democratic wisdom that could be just what their barely governable country needs. Faced with the fall-out from the financial crisis and a massive backlog of structural reforms, a tense stand-off with arch-rival Pakistan and a string of home-grown insurgencies, along with communal, caste and regional polarisation, the electorate has chosen decisively.

The government of Manmohan Singh has triumphed beyond its supporters’ wildest expectations, to give India a stable and secular majority. This is the first time since 1977 that Congress, the party of independence, has been returned for a second successive term.