Rising Prices Threaten Modi’s Hold on India’s Most Crucial State
The Uttar Pradesh vote will signal whether Modi’s grip on power is slipping ahead of the next national election in 2024.
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Five years ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party won big in India’s most-populous state thanks in part to low-status voters who endorsed his economic vision. Now they’re showing signs of looking elsewhere.
Soaring prices, joblessness and health complications from a wave of delta-fueled Covid-19 infections last year are high on the minds of voters in Uttar Pradesh, the most crucial of five states that will reveal election results this week. Moreover, Modi’s Hindu-dominant Bharatiya Janata Party is pushing away some Muslims and voters from disadvantaged castes who once embraced him.