On Sunday, as he announced the electoral plan of his Hindu nationalist party, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged to increase social spending, build infrastructure, and transform India into a worldwide center for manufacturing in response to firms’ flight from China.
Modi is aiming for a third consecutive five-year term in office. Days before a multi-phase general election began, he and other Bharatiya Janata Party leaders presented their promises in the world’s largest democracy.
Modi has pledged to increase funding for social programs that were established during his party’s ten-year rule. These programs include healthcare, free cooking gas, free food, and millions of free homes for the impoverished. An annual payment of 6,000 rupees ($73) has been made to impoverished farmers by his administration.
Since taking office in 2014, he claims that his policies have lifted 250 million people out of poverty. Over 1.4 billion people call India home, making it the most populous country in the world. Less than one percent of Indians are now considered to be living in extreme poverty, according to BJP president J.P. Nadda.
The Indian election process takes weeks and spans multiple days and regions. Results will be released on June 4, and voting for the country’s parliament will commence on April 19. The polls will remain open until June 1.
Modi and the BJP are expected to win, according to the majority of polls. On the other hand, Modi’s detractors in the Congress Party claim that he has prioritised the wealth of the wealthy over democracy in India.
Aiming to increase India’s GDP from its current level of about $3.7 trillion to $5 trillion by 2027, Modi has been campaigning extensively across the nation. In addition, he claims to have set India on the path to become a developed nation by 2047, the year the nation will celebrate its centennial of independence from British colonial rule.
His party, he announced on Sunday, would work to establish India as a global leader in the pharmaceutical, energy, semiconductor, and tourist sectors. The Indian government will upgrade its trains, airports, and canals, he added. He also promised to work toward expanding opportunities for youth employment and lowering the cost of startup capital for young business owners.
Modi has presided over tremendous economic progress and is widely admired in India for his support of the country’s Hindu majority.
Opponents of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) argue that the party’s ten years in power have resulted in attacks on the country’s minorities, especially Muslims, as well as a reduction in freedom of speech and the media, and that another term for the BJP could damage India’s reputation as a secular, democratic society.
