Watch Nidhi Razdan: India Elections get underway — Why Modi is BJP’s trump card - video Dailymotion

Watch Nidhi Razdan: India Elections get underway — Why Modi is BJP’s trump card

Transcript

00:00The world's biggest democratic exercise is finally underway, with India's general elections

00:09kicking off with round one of voting. It's a high-stakes battle for everyone involved,

00:14from Mr Modi, who's seeking a third straight term, to the opposition that's fighting to

00:17stay relevant. An interesting survey put out by the CSDS Lok Niti just days ago, ahead

00:23of these elections, tells us a more complex picture of what things are going to look like.

00:29Firstly, that target of 400-plus for the NDA that the Prime Minister keeps talking about

00:34may not be that easy for the BJP and its allies to achieve, simply because there are some

00:40economic headwinds that the party is encountering after 10 years in power. The respondents of

00:46this survey cited unemployment and inflation as amongst the top issues which concern them,

00:51and they're not happy about this. So that's clearly something that is telling on the ground.

00:56But at the same time, in what reflects the complexity and the contradiction of how the

01:01Indian electorate votes, the survey also shows that Mr Modi's popularity is still quite high,

01:07personally, way ahead of Rahul Gandhi's, and that the NDA therefore enjoys a comfortable

01:1212-point lead over the opposition India alliance. What it does reflect, though, is that economic

01:18issues and economic distress could surprise the BJP in certain pockets of the country.

01:23This may end up being a tougher fight than what was initially predicted. We'll have to

01:28see, though, how it ultimately plays out over the next few weeks. It's a long election.

01:34And this survey, in a sense, also gives you an idea of why the BJP's campaign is so Modi-centric.

01:41Because ultimately, they're making it about Narendra Modi, Modi's guarantee, and hoping

01:45that that's the trump card that wins them 2024.