Unemployment and inflation are the main concerns of Indian voters but Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s strong leadership, his party’s Hindu nationalist agenda and India’s rising global stature will likely help his re-election bid, a survey shows.

The findings illustrate that benefits of India’s world-beating growth are starkly different for its 1.4 billion people as the creation of jobs, despite Modi’s domestic manufacturing push during the past 10 years, is still a challenge.

India starts voting in a seven-phase general election on April 19 that Modi is expected to win easily. 

Votes will be counted on June 4.

Unemployment was the primary concern of 27 per cent of the 10,000 voters surveyed by Lokniti-CSDS across 19 of India’s 28 states, with the price rise second at 23 per cent, the Hindu newspaper said.

Almost two-thirds, or 62 per cent of those surveyed, said finding jobs had become more difficult in the past five years – Modi’s second term as prime minister.

Although 22 per cent said “the most liked action” of Modi’s government was the construction of a grand Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Ram on a site that was contested by minority Muslims, only eight per cent said it was their primary concern.

India is the world’s fastest-growing major economy and its fifth-largest but unemployment and inflation have been nagging its rise.

The unemployment rate rose to 5.4 per cent in 2022/23, from 4.9 per cent in 2013/14 just before Modi swept to power.

Almost 16 per cent of urban youth in the 15 to 29 years age group remained unemployed in 2022/23 due to poor skills and a lack of quality jobs, official data shows.

Modi supervised the consecration of the Ram temple in January, a move increasingly used by his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party in its poll campaign to highlight the completion of a long-standing Hindu demand.

At least 48 per cent respondents said the temple would consolidate a Hindu identity, but a huge majority (79 per cent) said India belonged to citizens of all religions equally, not just Hindus.

Voters were also drawn by the growing international courtship of India, with highly publicised events such as India’s presidency of the G20 bloc in 2023 and New Delhi hosting the G20 leaders in September.

About eight per cent of the survey’s respondents said they liked the government’s push to create a better international image of India. 

This post was originally published on Michael West.