High Tide Of Hindutva

Narendra Modi retains the people’s confidence and their vote despite Covid, negative economic growth and Chinese aggression. His party’s right-wing agenda is also finding increasing public support

- Raj Chengappa

There are years when a single crisis can engulf a nation and push it to the brink of collapse. But seldom does a nation confront a whole constellation of damaging crises in one year as India did in 2020. The Covid-19 pandemic wreaked havoc not only on our lives but also on our livelihoods, leaving the Indian economy in tatters. The massive Chinese aggression on our borders—not seen for decades— threatened the nation’s territorial integrity. And the farmers’ agitation—a self-goal by the central government—has gone on unabated for almost two months now.

Given the pressing emergencies before the country, any leader would have found his and his government’s popularity dipping drastically. In the United States, Donald Trump failed to get re-elected partly because of the perception that his apathetic handling of the pandemic led to America registering the highest number of Covid-19 cases and casualties. With over 10 million cases, India stands second in the world in the number of people afflicted with Covid while its death toll has crossed 150,000. Worse, the economy is set to register a negative annual GDP growth rate for the first time in decades even as unemployment remains at an all-time high. Yet, as the latest India Today-Karvy Insights Mood of the Nation (MOTN) poll reveals, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity is scaling stratospheric heights and his government’s performance gets a big thumbs-up from respondents.