The Modi Phenomenon

The prime minister’s personal popularity remains undented, compensating for his government’s shortcomings on the economic front. He now needs to address the pain points that the survey throws up, including inflation and unemployment

- Raj Chengappa

That Narendra Modi is a rare political phenomenon not just on the Indian political firmament but also in the world is becoming increasingly evident. How else do you explain the Indian prime minister's continuing popularity even as the approval ratings of other leaders of the democratic world, be it Joe Biden of the US, Emmanuel Macron of France, Olaf Scholz of Germany, Justin Trudeau of Canada or Fumio Kishida of Japan, have taken a plunge.

This despite India's economic growth having yet to return to pre-pandemic levels and mounting uncertainty and anxiety globally over a creeping economic recession brought on by the not-yet-over Covid-19 pandemic, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and now a brewing confrontation between China and the US over Taiwan. A global survey of 22 democratic countries by the US-based data intelligence company Morning Consult Political Intelligence released on August 4 put Modi's approval ratings at 75 per cent, way ahead of five other leaders whose ratings also saw an increase, even as the rest of the pack dropped significantly in the popularity stakes (Biden's ratings, for instance, have fallen to 38 per cent).