New Delhi, May 26 (IANS) More than 50 per cent Indians think Prime Minister Narendra Modi has created a new “vote bank” of citizens and voters who have been helped materially by myriad welfare schemes launched since 2014, revealed by data analysis of an exclusive nationwide survey conducted by CVoter to mark nine years of the current regime.
Narendra Modi was sworn in as the Prime Minister on May 26, 2014.
The question asked in the CVoter survey was: In the last nine years, do you think Modi has created a new vote bank who are beneficiaries of welfare schemes? While 41 per cent responded by saying they totally agree, about 12 per cent were of the opinion that they partly agree.
That there is a core base of voter who do not approve of Modi is indicated by the fact that more than 27 per cent say they totally disagree with the contention. Interestingly, close to 13 per cent stated that they were unable to express an opinion on the issue.
Political analysts have analysed data from the 2019 Lok Sabha elections to reach a conclusion that welfare schemes, particularly the ones targeted at women, played a significant role in the NDA regime getting naive electoral support. Soon after coming to power, Modi had launched the zero balance Jan Dhan scheme that enabled the poor to open and access their own bank accounts.
Close to 500 million such accounts have been opened since then. Some of the other marquee schemes launched were the Ujjwala Yojana of gas connections, Swachch Bharat for toilets, free electricity connections, free medical insurance, Mudra loans and a cash dole of Rs 6,000 per year to farmers. According to various estimates, at least 100 million women have benefited from these welfare schemes. During the Covid pandemic, the regime launched the largest welfare scheme in the history of the world by giving free food to 800 million Indians.
–IANS
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