An historic change of guard in India – The long-ruling Congress Party is conceding that it has suffered a crushing defeat in the national elections, and that the Hindi nationalist BJP Party has ridden anti-incumbent sentiment to a huge victory.

“We accept defeat.  We are ready to sit in the opposition,” said Senior Congress leader and spokesman Rajeev Shukla.

The final tally was not released at the time of this writing, however it appeared that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led National Democratic Alliance was on course for an absolute majority.  To achieve that, it needs to secure 272 seats in the 543-seat parliament.

The pretty much ensures that Narendra Modi will be the next prime minister, carried into office on his message of fighting corruption and building the economy and infrastructure.