Article on PM Modi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi ‘s popularity is discussed not only in the country but also abroad. The whole world has been convinced of his leadership. In this sequence, Britain’s famous magazine ‘The Economist’ has said that usually elite people dislike globally popular leaders, but this is not the case with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and support for him seems to be increasing among educated voters.
In an article titled ‘Why India’s elites support Narendra Modi’, the publication said, “Three factors – class politics, the economy, and elite admiration for strongman rule – help explain why.” Terming it the ‘Modi paradox’, The Economist said India’s prime minister is often associated with right-wing populists such as Donald Trump, but Modi is no ordinary strongman who is expected to win a third term.
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This is why PM Modi is the most popular leader
It noted, “In most places, support for anti-establishment populists like Trump and policies like Brexit is inversely correlated with university education. Not in India. Call it the Modi paradox. It helps explain why he is the most popular leader of any major democracy today.”
Citing a Gallup poll, it said only 26 per cent of respondents in the US with a university education approved of Trump, while 50 per cent of those with less education supported him, but Modi has bucked the trend. The article cited a Pew Research survey to say 66 per cent of Indians with no education beyond primary school level had a ‘very favourable’ opinion of Modi in 2017, but 80 per cent of those with higher education said they liked him.
42 percent Indians supported BJP
After the 2019 general election, a Lokniti survey found that about 42 percent of Indians with a degree supported Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, while about 35 percent of those with only a primary-school level education did so. The Economist also said that Modi’s success among the educated does not come at the expense of support among other groups.
PM Modi has also made inroads into the lower class
Like other popular leaders, his biggest penetration has been among lower-class voters, the article quoted political scientist Nilanjan Sarkar of the Centre for Policy Research as saying. Citing the economy as a key factor, the article said India’s strong GDP growth is rapidly increasing the size and wealth of the Indian upper-middle class, despite it being unevenly distributed.
‘India needs the rule of a strong man’
It said the Congress had strong support among the upper-middle class in the late 2000s, but a recession and a series of corruption scandals in the 2010s changed things. “But Modi’s tenure has enhanced India’s economic and geopolitical position in the world,” the article said. At the same time, some people think that strongman rule is what India actually needs. They pointed to the situation in China and East Asia, whose experience makes them think that strong governance can overcome obstacles to economic development.
The absence of a strong opposition is also beneficial for PM Modi
It said the elites feel their support for Modi will continue until a credible alternative emerges. According to the article, most elites have lost faith in the Congress and its leader Rahul Gandhi, who is seen as dynastic and inaccessible. It quoted an unnamed senior Congress leader as saying Modi has “adopted our best ideas” such as delivering welfare payments digitally and “executed them better” than his party. The article concluded that “a strong opposition is probably the only thing that will motivate India’s elites to abandon Modi but at the moment, that is nowhere in sight.”
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