Sensing that the middle class, which had overwhelmingly voted for the BJP during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, was moving away from the party, the Narendra Modi sarkar has decided to bring the focus b
Sensing that the middle class, which had overwhelmingly voted for the BJP during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, was moving away from the party, the Narendra Modi sarkar has decided to bring the focus back on to its main support base.
A concerned government is seriously considering keeping India’s rising middle class as the focus of its future vision for the period beyond 2016-17, rather than focusing only on poverty elimination which was at the core of Indira Gandhi’s 1971 election bid marked by the slogan “Garibi Hatao”.
A closed-door meeting at the Niti Aayog last week, chaired by vice-chairman Dr Arvind Panagariya and attended, among others, by the country’s top economists, is learnt to have sought views from stakeholders across various sectors on firming up a vision document which will consist of a 15-year National Development Agenda and lay down the seven-year strategy as well as a three-year action plan comprising schemes and programmes to achieve the long-term future goals up to 2030.
The focus of the vision document would be on the emerging middle class rather than poverty, a section of the intelligentsia, which has submitted its ideas to the Aayog, was of the view. Sources said that the shift in focus also gels with the mantra of inclusive growth — Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas — which is the main idea of governance of the NDA government.
Niti Aayog, the government’s think tank, is giving final shape to the vision document under the supervision of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
The middle class has been one of the core vote banks of the BJP and had been growing steadily over the years. During the 2004 and 2009 Lok Sabha elections, 22 per cent of India’s middle class voted for the BJP. But in 2014 general elections, when the BJP went to polls promising “achche din” with Narendra Modi as its mascot, the middle class’ support for the BJP rose by a staggering 10 per cent. But since then, as has been apparent in Delhi and Bihar’s electoral debacles, the middle class has been moving away from the BJP.
With the country’s current economic growth at 7.9 per cent, seven years down the line India will be a fast emerging middle income nation. And with the economically weaker sections rapidly joining the swelling ranks of the new middle class, it’s no surprise that Niti Aayog has decided to give special attention to the middle class.
