The performance of the Modi government has emerged as an important electoral issue. The BJP is keen to highlight its achievement to show that voters are fully satisfied with the policies and programmes introduced by the BJP-NDA government in the past ten years. The Opposition, on the contrary, is interested in focusing on social disquiet, economic hardship, and political anxieties to pose a serious challenge to the ruling party.
Our survey goes beyond these simplistic political explanations and introduces a complex and multifaceted picture. There is a slowly growing uneasiness with the regime; yet, this discontent has not yet reached to an electorally decisive level. Four key findings need to be highlighted for a comprehensive assessment of the emerging political scenario.
First, there is an overall satisfaction regarding the performance of the Union government in the past five years. Over 57% respondents affirm that they are fully or partly satisfied with the Modi-regime (Table 1). However, this affirmation should not be exaggerated. Data shows that the level of dissatisfaction with the government has also increased significantly. Our 2019 study has found that around 30% respondents were not happy with the first Modi government. In the past five years, this number has gone up to 39% while there is a huge dip in overall satisfaction from 65 percent in 2019 to 57 percent now.
