Wooing Voters and Unemployment Woes

Fr. Gaurav Nair Fr. Gaurav Nair
29 Apr 2024

The BJP-led government often highlights India's rapid economic growth since 2014. However, it's important to note that this growth is not solely due to their policies. Ten years ago, India was the tenth-largest economy in the world, with a GDP of $1.9 trillion. Today, despite the pandemic, it is the 5th largest, with a GDP of $3.7 trillion. The Finance Ministry predicts that India will become the third-largest economy in the world, with a GDP of $5 trillion within the next three years and will approach $7 trillion by 2030.

For the obtuse, it must be pointed out that an economy's growth does not ride on only a few factors or even a short period. It is the cumulative result of all policies since decades ago. India had just started liberalising its economy after narrow and untrusting policies immediately following Independence when Modi came to power and implemented reforms that only benefitted a few. To top it all off, he introduced two disasters, demonetisation and GST reforms, which would accelerate the accumulation of power and wealth into his grubby paws. The pandemic and lockdowns he implemented became the icing on the cake. In fact, the BJP's policies have only hurt India and hampered its growth. What we see today is an internally unstable economy puppeteered by a few.

One of the determinants used to project India's growth is its demographics, which are among the youngest in the world. However, specific reports assert that almost half of those voting in a government now are unemployed, of which a staggering 83 per cent are young. In fact, unemployment has increased since the BJP came into power. The government has failed to provide jobs and security for its younger citizens. BJP-supported businesspeople have seen a meteoric rise owing to its wretched policies that have only guaranteed a situation of inequity of power and wealth. Such an economy is, unfortunately, neither sustainable nor progressive. The government should have focussed on balanced and inclusive growth policies for the longer term.

The government has, until now, swept the problems under the rug by providing welfare to those in need and distracting the citizens with imbecilic ideas like the promise of temples and vulgar narratives like those delivered by Modiji in Banswara. But this is not a long-term solution to its crises. Spreading misinformation through suppressing mainstream media and inundating social media through its brainless minions might have sustained it for a time, but it has not immobilised the reality it is trying to conceal.

It is manifest that only some have fallen for its shenanigans or are disillusioned in the face of truth; moreover, its intensity and coverage are currently indeterminable. Though disgruntlement has been growing visibly among the unemployed, especially the youth, it is impossible to conclude that it will upturn the current incumbency. Nevertheless, the current blues will assuredly cause some trepidation as they shake a few pillars holding up the BJP's canopy.

Recent Posts

In a 1947 address at the University of Allahabad, Jawaharlal Nehru envisioned universities as temples of humanism, reason and truth. Today, shrinking public funding, rampant privatisation, ideological
apicture G Ramachandram
02 Mar 2026
At Rashtrapati Bhavan, replacing Edwin Lutyens' bust with C Rajagopalachari is framed as decolonisation, yet, in truth, it reflects a broader politics of renaming under Narendra Modi—symbolism over su
apicture A. J. Philip
02 Mar 2026
Gen-Z call to make leaders rely on public schools and hospitals underscores youth priorities—education, health care, and jobs—amid rising freebies, inequality, and weak public investment. The Supreme
apicture Jacob Peenikaparambil
02 Mar 2026
Major Archbishop Raphael Thattil's micro-minority appeal coincides with Kerala's delayed response to the Justice JB Koshy Commission, whose recommendations aim to address internal Christian disparitie
apicture John Dayal
02 Mar 2026
The All India Catholic Union warns of rising violence, legal curbs, and social exclusion targeting Christians across the Northeast, citing unrest in Manipur and enforcement of the Arunachal Pradesh Fr
apicture IC Correspondent
02 Mar 2026
The 2002 Gujarat violence, following the Sabarmati Express tragedy, became one of independent India's darkest chapters. Allegations of state complicity, contested investigations, and enduring survivor
apicture Cedric Prakash
02 Mar 2026
In his second encyclical, Laudato Si': On Care for Our Common Home (2015), Pope Francis offers a sustained moral critique of consumerism, unrestrained economic expansion, and ecological indifference.
apicture Joseph Maliakan
02 Mar 2026
As nuclear powers like the United States and Russia modernise vast arsenals while policing others, critics decry a double standard embedded in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The world risks bec
apicture P. A. Chacko
02 Mar 2026
O Jurist Dr. Gregory Stanton, You talked of genocide in ten slow steps I come from a land Where we have been walking those steps For six thousand years Without shoes, Without dignity, Without
apicture Dr Suryaraju Mattimalla
02 Mar 2026
The robotic dog is not the real problem. It is the comfort we now have with make-believe. It is the applause that follows every convenient explanation.
apicture Robert Clements
02 Mar 2026