Indian voters want jobs and lower prices, survey shows

[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.

Election staff keeps Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) on metal box before dispatching them from a warehouse ahead of India's general election in Ahmedabad, India, April 8, 2024. REUTERS/Amit Dave/File Photo

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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