Parties Modes in the wrong throat | Abroad

Fifty million postcards, exhibits, film screenings and an app that lets Indians contact Modi directly; the BJP is really pulling out all the stops this year.

A look at the polls shows why. While two-thirds of Indians were positive about Modi last year, it is now less than a quarter. The Indian Prime Minister has never been so unpopular during his seven-year premiership.

The mismanagement of the pandemic is the biggest cause. The infamous delta variant first appeared in India and has wreaked havoc there earlier this year. That had disastrous consequences for the economy and millions of Indians are now unemployed.

The Congress party has therefore declared Modi’s birthday National Unemployment Day. The youth wing of the opposition party is taking the lead in this, because it is mainly young Indians who are out of work. “The youth of this country roam the streets idly,” lamented chairman Shrinivas BV.

The BJP pays little attention to the criticism. The festivities will last until October 7, the day Modi came to power as prime minister of the state of Gujarat twenty years ago.

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