Indian voters want jobs and lower prices, survey shows
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[April 12, 2024]
By Shivam Patel and Sakshi Dayal
NEW DELHI (Reuters) -Unemployment and inflation are the main concerns of
Indian voters but Prime Minister Narendra Modi's strong leadership, his
party's Hindu nationalist agenda and India's rising global stature will
likely help his re-election bid, a survey shows.
The findings illustrate that benefits of India's world beating growth
are not evenly spread for its 1.4 billion people as the creation of
jobs, despite Modi's domestic manufacturing push over the last 10 years,
is still a challenge.
India starts voting in a seven-phase general election on April 19 that
Modi is expected to win easily. Votes will be counted on June 4.
Unemployment was the primary concern of 27% of the 10,000 voters
surveyed by Lokniti-CSDS across 19 of India's 28 states, with rising
prices coming second at 23%, the Hindu newspaper said.
India is the world's fastest growing major economy and its
fifth-largest. But nearly two thirds, or 62% of those surveyed, said
finding jobs had become more difficult in the last five years - Modi's
second term as prime minister.
The unemployment rate rose to 5.4% in 2022/23, from 4.9% in 2013/14 just
before Modi swept to power, and nearly 16% of urban youth in the 15-29
years age group remained unemployed in 2022/23 due to poor skills and a
lack of quality jobs, official data shows.
Although 22% said "the most liked action" of Modi's government was the
construction of a grand Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Ram on a site
that was contested by minority Muslims, only 8% said it was their
primary concern.
Modi supervised the consecration of the Ram temple in January, a move
increasingly used by his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
in its election campaign to highlight the completion of a long-standing
Hindu demand.
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On Friday, Modi attacked the main opposition Congress party for
refusing the invitation to the temple inauguration.
"Ram devotees of the entire world have seen this arrogance of yours
... this is an election game for you," Modi said in a campaign
speech in the federal territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Congress had refused to attend the inauguration, saying it had been
converted into a "political project" of the BJP and that the
consecration had been brought forward "for electoral gain".
At least 48% respondents said the temple would consolidate a Hindu
identity, but a huge majority (79%) said India belonged to citizens
of all religions equally, not just Hindus.
Voters were also drawn by the growing international standing of
India, with highly publicised events such as India's presidency of
the G20 bloc last year, and New Delhi hosting the G20 leaders in
September.
About 8% of the survey's respondents said they liked the
government's push to create a better international image of India.
(Reporting by Shivam Patel and Sakshi Dayal in New Delhi; Editing by
YP Rajesh, Raju Gopalakrishnan and Alison Williams)
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