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To what extent has Modi government created jobs as the elections are approaching?
Ian Hall, Griffith University India is preparing to witness the largest ever Polls will commence from April 19 and will continue till June this year. Some 940 million voters on the electoral register will be able to vote in order to select 543 members of the lower house of parliament known as the Lok Sabha. It is not predetermined, however, […]
India is going to deliver the largest election this year scheduled to commence from April 19 through June early. About 950 million of the registered voters are allowed to vote to elect 543 members of the lower house of the Indian parliment called the Lok Sabha.
It is unclear; however, majority opinion predicts victory for Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to rule for another five years. A recent survey shows that Modi is still popular among many citizens of the country and the major opposition political parties do not have significant support among the voters.
Slow growth, too few jobs
This could be seen as peculiar by some. The previous Indian government, led by, Narendra Modi, is less impressive especially in the way it has handled the economy thus let down many voters.
Indeed, as Mr Modi has said, sometimes somewhat defensively, to voters, yes India has grown more slowly only in the past couple of years than some of its competitors. However, the BJP was voted into power ten years ago with vision of double-digit growth rate and it has never realized it.
Besides, it has been wanting in its ability to create employment for the millions of young people that could otherwise be provide for.
Regarding errors in BJP economic policy that many people link with growth and job losses, there is the following. These include:
the severe one delivered in 2016 when 85 percent of the Indian currency notes were pulled out of circulation in a bid to curb black money.
the clumsy implementation of change, in what has been described as the social pillar, restructuring the sector that deals with agriculture.
and the present regulation and safeguarding of India’s large industrial houses against local and foreign rivalry.
Altogether, critics say, these errors have condemned too many entrants to precarious jobs and hindered many more from investing in manufacturing, which can deliver the goods, so to speak.
Building a Hindu nationalist support.
On the other hand, there lies the answer to the question why thousands of Indians still stand behind the government led by Mr. Narendra Modi?
One of the reasons is the party’s flexibility in addressing the various segments of the audience with the specific gibberish.
India is governed and managed by political leadership and this is made possible by the formation and sustenance of coalitions, coalitions of parties and/or coalitions of peoples. Modi’s BJP does both. As of now, it has several parliamentary seats of several small parties, however, more important for victory in the elections, is the number of the so called voting clusters which the party can gather.
It is therefore over a core of convinced Hindu nationalists claiming adhesion to an ideology that is called ‘Hindutva’. They claim that India is a Hindu nation and thus, its society and government should implement what they consider to be Hindus’ desire, Particularly, about 80% of the Indians.
For years, they have been protesting against what they consider as special privileges extended to religious groups, specially pertaining to the protection for places of worship, faith-based divorce and child custody laws, and self-governing territory of Jammu and Kashmir which has a Muslim majority population.
Gradually, during the decade, the demands have been fulfilled by the Modi government and the Hindu voter became tied to the BJP.
The same year it abrogated the constitutional decisions that had earlier restrained New Delhi on its decisions concerning the status and governance of Kashmir.
In addition, earlier this year, the prime minister also inaugurated a new Hindu temple in a town of Ayodhya which was destroyed by the Hindu nationalist in the year 1992.
Subsequently, the government declared a new law as follows that would facilitate the Hindus, Sikhs and other communities from the neighbouring Muslim-majority countries to get the Indian citizenship but may also set the mechanism for deporting the Muslims who are considered as the illegal immigrants.
Many defend the practice of a “interested civil code” leading to same laws on matrimony, alimony, and custody for all the inhabitants of India irrespective of the religion that they follow.
Courting women and urban, middle-class voters
The Hindu nationalist core electorate is significant, however it is not sufficient to deliver all the required seats for the BJP to form human government.
That is why it also sought to secure the support of the urban middle class society that was also on the rise. Although it has some interest in the cultural realm, this group is more straight-forward in the political perspective with emphasis on good political system and India’s position in the global sphere.
In the past two elections, the BJP gained the support of the people by making the right promises of containing corruption, revamping India’s business framework, construction of efficient and improved infrastructure, and rebuilding the pride of the nation. It is advisable to continue with this program to maintain this bloc of voters and the program probably will, in the absence of any better strategies.
Besides, the BJP will continue to woo the rural poor and women vote, which might they give to the Left parties or abstain from voting.
In the recently years to attract these group the Modi government has doubled funding for a rural income guarantee scheme’ launched other programs such as midday meals school going children.
It has provided the opportunity for bank accounts to be opened for tens of million, and women included. This enables them — in principle, though, of course — to avoid corrupt bureaucrats and inept husbands when it comes to obtaining unemployment benefits.
The government has also brought millions of rural homes in the country Toilet and cooking gas bottles because it deems both make women safer.
These measures have proved beneficial up to some extent as more of the rural poor and women are voting for BJP in the recent elections.
This time around, the party is seeking to gain the support of the women folk particularly the business women. It has passed a new law of gender quota in the parliament, which regulates the reserved one third of the Lok Sabha seat for women from the year 2029.
A divided and weak opposition
It is evident that the Modi government managed to win over these groups; however, it should be stated that the BJP never achieved 40% of the vote share from a national election. It may struggle to attain office if the country has a united and powerful opposition.
Fortunately for the BJP, the opposition parties in India are poorly developed. They quoted if they had provided support to a single candidate who would compete against the BJP in individual districts, they would receive more votes. Nevertheless, attempts to achieve this have been rather complex.
Even worse, the break and brittle opposition has so far not put forward a realistic prospective prime minister candidate.
Congress Party leader, Rahul Gandhi is more blatantly obvious, as he belongs to the Nehru-Gandhi clan that has ruled India since its independence, however he is considered to be a non-serious and inefficient amateur. National-level politicians are astoundingly rare; a state-level politician like Mamata Banerjee of West Bengal may only be known in that particular state.
At the same time, there are positive attitudes toward Modi himself, that is, Indians perceive him as a likeable person. His humble roots, coupled with his natural vigour and easy-going disposition remain endearing attraction to young and upwardly mobile population who mostly come from the socially disadvantaged castes.
