Unemployment is a critical issue in India Modi government is overlooking that resulted to his downfall in election 2024. says experts.

Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) won general elections in India and with that Narendra Modi has become Prime Minister for the consecutive third time. World’s biggest democratic elections took place in phases from April to May across the nation. Counting of votes ended with a clear result however, unexpected. Even though, BJP led National Democratic alliance (NDA) won majority of the seats comparatively to rival alliance INDIA (India National Developmental Inclusive Alliance), which were 295 of the 543, but it is much smaller number than the BJP promised its supporters with slogan ‘Abki Baar 400 paar’ or ‘Will cross 400 this time’. The number couldn’t even come closer to what was predicted by exit polls, that mainly forecasted huge win of BJP by 350 seats. According to the information, more than 643 million people, approximately billion of eligible voters participated in seven phases of voting. Under extremely hot conditions and several warnings of heatwaves, polling staff including officials faced life threatening consequences. At least, 80 people nationwide died due to heat during voting, whereas 10 out of them were polling officials.

Narendra Modi while addressing his party members at BJP headquarters said ‘it’s a win for the 1.4 billion people of India’ and called the results ‘victory of the world’s biggest democracy’. He did not mention Uttar Pradesh or Ayodhya in his speech, where he personally inaugurated a Hindu temple right before elections and that has a conflicted history with Muslim community, as rival alliance INDIA won in both of the states with decent numbers. Experts have speculated number of different reasons behind unexpected downfall of BJP. Dr. Irfan Nooruddin, professor of Indian Politics in Georgetown University said that BJP relied predominantly over Modi’s popularity to win this election, just to push local leaders who weren’t famous at all, quoted CBS News. Similarly, Director of South Asia Institute at the University of London believes, BJP played the Ram Mandir (Ram Temple) card too early as they had though it was a vote getting machine, quoted CBS News. Another political commentor Pratap Bhanu Mehta said, ‘At the very least, the result pricks the bubble Prime Minister Modi’s authority. He made this election about himself. Today, he is just another politician, cut to size by the people’, quoted Indian Express Daily, according to AP News.
Indian Political expert Suraj Tyagi, who turned into a commentor after covering political news for years said, ‘This has to be BJP’s biggest turning point, in political context. Exit polls, debates, mainstream media channels were loudly screaming opposite to what happened. Everybody predicted victory of Narendra Modi, but with higher margin. People underestimated opposition and overlooked failures of Modi government comparatively to the popularity that he has worldwide.’ Furthermore, ‘I believe it’s the loopholes Modi government did not focus on and in the meanwhile, coming of the major long serving leaders together for an alliance and as a strong opposition did affect the margin of BJP in elections, considering the amalgamation of main opposition parties such as Trinamool Congress (TMC), Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’, he said.
But what exactly went wrong? Narendra Modi is one of the world’s most popular leader with 76 per cent rating, and is an influential personality nationwide. He is famous among youth in India and also in virtual space with over 90.8 million followers on Instagram. Winning three times in a row, he has become first Prime Minister after Jawaharlal Nehru to achieve it, however, reduction in vote margin portrays another story. ‘He is positively one of the most liked and influential personality worldwide who has changed dynamics of the country in multiple terms globally. But there are some major domestic issues that he did not acknowledge. Voters cannot be taken for granted and that has been proven through this election. Unemployment is one of them. Modi government did not contribute enough to generate jobs for people within 10 years and now people are frustrated’, according to Mr. Tyagi. India is getting international recognition, but is struggling with weak governance and that is affecting solely to economy and migration, he believes. A report by International Investment migration advisory firm Henley & Partners revealed that around 4300 millionaires are about to leave India by the end of 2024 and will shift to UAE. Simultaneously, number of students migrating to another countries for higher education is increasing with every year. Mr. Tyagi told EAT news, ‘With no certain future and job opportunities, students are opting to move abroad with better chances. It is important that government should consider problems people are going through as their agenda of campaign and should draft their strategies around it, instead contributing to the sectors that are already doing good’.
National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) disclosed a total of 1,70,924 suicides were reported in 2022, which is 4.2 percent higher than the reported number in 2021. Unemployment and professional issues were the reasons for 1.9 per cent and 1.2 per cent cases respectively. The victory margin of BJP this year is a disappointment for the party members and supporters, but if government fails to address the issues in future, it will be a bigger disappointment and maybe a permanent goodbye to Modi government.