PM Modi’s Approval Rating Falls Amid Second COVID-19 Wave: US firm

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s approval ratings have fallen to a new low amid the second wave of the coronavirus epidemic, a survey showed on Tuesday, reported Reuters.  Narendra Modi’s overall ratings this week stand at 63%, his lowest since the US data intelligence company Morning Consult’s tracker of a dozen global leaders firm began tracking his popularity in August 2019.

The big decline happened in April when his net approval dropped 22 points, according to the US firm.

Narendra Modi has long fostered the image of a powerful nationalist leader but India’s COVID-19 caseload surged past 25 million this week, exposing a lack of preparation and eroding Modi’s support base, the report added.

The sharp fall came as the pandemic appeared to be overwhelming large urban centres such as Delhi, where hospitals ran out of beds and life-saving oxygen and people died in parking lots, gasping for breath.

Narendra Modi’s government has said it is doing its best to tackle the “coronavirus storm”, calling it a once-in-a-century crisis.

A survey among urban Indians by polling agency YouGov this month showed public confidence in the government’s handling of the crisis has plummeted since February when the second wave began.

Only 59% of respondents at the end of April believed the government was handling the crisis ‘very’ or ‘somewhat’ well, down from 89% a year earlier during the first wave, the report showed according to Reuters.