Surveys show unemployment and inflation are major concerns among Indian voters, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s strong leadership and India’s rising global standing could help his re-election campaign.
The findings show that despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s push for domestic manufacturing over the past decade, India’s 1.4 billion people have enjoyed very different benefits from growth, as job creation remains a challenge.
India will begin voting in the seven-phase general election on April 19, and Prime Minister Modi is expected to win easily. Counting will take place on June 4.
“The Hindu” stated that Lokniti-CSDS conducted a survey of 10,000 voters in 19 of India’s 28 states. Among them, 27% of voters were most concerned about unemployment, followed by rising prices at 23%.
Nearly two-thirds of respondents, or 62%, said finding a job has become more difficult in the past five years of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s second term as prime minister.
While 22 per cent said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government’s “favorite action” would be to build a majestic temple dedicated to Lord Ram at a site disputed by a minority of Muslims, only 8 per cent said it was their top concern.
India is the world’s fastest-growing major economy and the fifth largest, but unemployment and inflation have plagued its growth.
Unemployment has risen from 4.9% in 2013/14, before Prime Minister Modi came to power, to 5.4% in 2022/23, and there is a lack of quality jobs amid low skills, official data shows.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi oversaw the consecration of the Ram temple in January, a move his Bharatiya Janata Party has increasingly used in polls to highlight the completion of long-standing Hindu demands.
At least 48% of respondents said the temple would solidify Hindu identity, but the vast majority (79%) said India belonged equally to citizens of all religions, not just Hindus.
India’s growing international influence has also attracted voters, as have high-profile events such as India’s chairmanship of the G20 group last year and New Delhi’s hosting of G20 leaders in September.
About 8% of survey respondents said they liked the government’s efforts to project a better international image of India.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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