At Narendra Modi’s last appearance before the election in the greater Delhi area, you can see both fervent enthusiasm and indifference. Various groups of supporters gathered outside the entrance to the DDA Park in Sector 14 of the Indian capital at 4 p.m. on Wednesday and began to cheer. Around 30,000 people had come to see Modi, who is seeking a third term as prime minister.
For him, the final stretch of these seemingly endless Indian elections is about reigniting the fire. Voter turnout is slightly lower than in 2019, young people do not seem to feel addressed, and the race for the core electorate of the Hindu nationalist ruling party BJP may already be over. And then the country is also plagued by a heatwave. Even at 6:20 p.m., when Narendra Modi finally takes the stage, it is still 40 degrees, and a rising wind blows dust into the audience’s faces.
Modi is working on the Congress Party, which last ruled ten years ago
Close to the stage, enthusiastic Modi fans have built a pyramid of chairs so they can see better. Behind them, the first spectators leave the event after taking a selfie with themselves and the Prime Minister in the background. “Mother India,” Modi says softly three times into the microphone, then: “Please be quiet so I can speak.” His voice is brittle from the many appearances and speeches, television and newspaper interviews.
Before the election, Modi had declared his goal to win 400 of 545 seats in the Lok Sabha, the Indian parliament. But there are now doubts as to whether his BJP can even achieve the good result of 2019. There is a risk of fewer than 300 seats, so Modi is turning up the heat. “The opposition is not thinking about the future,” he calls out to his supporters, “we have built 70 airports in ten years.” This is one of his favorite stories because the airports have noticeably improved people’s lives. “While the Congress was in power, mobile phones were imported, now we are the second largest exporter.”
Modi is working on the Congress Party, which has not been in power for ten years. This reveals a problem with this election campaign: a decade is a long time, and not just in the mobile phone sector. In such a huge country, where a fifth of the 968 million eligible voters are under 29, a decade is an eternity. The BJP and Modi are therefore primarily being judged by themselves. And although airports are being built everywhere and economic figures are rising, and India is now ranked fifth among the economic powers, little of this growth is reaching the general population.
More and more billionaires, continued great poverty
Last year, 200 Indians were on the Forbes list of billionaires, more than ever before, and yet there is still great poverty in the country. In his speech, Modi insulted Rahul Gandhi, the leading opposition candidate, and his mother Sonia as the “Khan Market Gang” – Khan Market is the name of the large bazaar in Delhi where the city’s wealthy go shopping and eating. In ten years of Modi and the BJP, it is mainly the rich who have become richer. World Inequality Report 2022a report on global inequality by the World Inequality Lab in Paris, found that one percent of India’s population owns more than 40 percent of India’s wealth.
In addition, these elections are taking place at a time of rising inflation, which is hitting the rich less hard. It could therefore be that the many poor in the country would rather vote for change. The situation is similar with unemployment. The BJP boasts of a historically low unemployment rate, but economic experts doubt the figures. A survey by the research institute “Centre for the Study of Developing Societies” in Delhi found that unemployment is a major concern for Indians. More than 60 percent of those surveyed said that it has become more difficult to find a job. This problem is particularly prevalent among young voters who are voting for the first time.
The electoral committee calls for moderation
Furthermore, Modi is making decisions in the current election campaign that are bringing him criticism. After the turnout in the first phases of the election was low, he toughened his tone against the Muslim minority in the country. The Indian Election Commission called on the ruling BJP and the Congress Party on Wednesday to exercise restraint in the final days of their campaigns. “I never use Muslims to do politics,” Modi now says in the DDA Park in a loud but increasingly weak voice. “Only the opposition does that to win votes.”
That same evening, just a few kilometers away, Arvind Kejriwal spoke. The Chief Minister of Delhi is one of Modi’s most prominent opponents. “If they throw democracy in prison, then we will work from there,” he said to thousands of fans. He was rewarded for this, and the next morning he was in the headlines. Many voters saw it as an unfair hindrance to the opposition that Kejriwal was taken into custody before the start of the elections.
“They looted Delhi,” Modi says of Kejriwal and his political followers. “You saw how much money was confiscated from them. That is your money!” But there is no real cheering from his audience. Many are already on their way home through Delhi’s endless traffic jams.