As things stand out at present, it seems Modi is doing well in maintaining his support base intact and as such there is no apparent sign of erosion in popularity. Modi is creating a lot sizzles to address issues relating to various constituting support groups. No doubt, luck is generous to Modi. This is evident from the fact that inflation has come down from a whopping above 10% level to below 5% within 5-6 months after he assumed office, not because of his Governmnet’s policy anyway. However, people are less interested about causes and more keen to effects. So whatever be the reason, people are happy that inflation is coming down and down. Favourable international oil market allowed him to cut prices of diesel petrol etc. 2ndly, there is an obvious dearth of able opposition leader who can take on Modi effectively on several national issues, like diluting scope of MGNREGA.
After assuming power with huge majority, fall in inflation rate and cut in fuel prices have immediately put Modi on a high trajectory of popularity and his concerted attempt in establishing his Government’s credibility has contributed further in keeping the trajectory high. No one will claim that Modi has done something new for social sector or economy. Be it PMJDY or Swachch Bharat Abhiyan – all these were just old wines in new bottles. However, the difference is that Modi while serving such ‘old wines’ created huge ripples across the country. From J&K to Kanya Kumari and From Gujarat to NE States – sensation was palpable and people realized Modi has done something. Very few know about the social reform schemes initiated by BJP’s 1st Prime Minister, A B Vajpayee. During his tenure, Vajpayee too initiated a number of schemes but not with such high pitch noises and so failed to catch people’s attention. Modi observed this and didn’t commit the same mistake. Using various modes of media, Modi created an overwhelming hype among various sections of people. For long many years, Congress and social reforms were synonymous to people. So apart from reaching out to mass, his intention was to rattle people’s inert psychic association (relating to social security schemes) with Congress.
