Day 20 – Q 4.What inferences can you draw about the political attitude of the middle class on the basis of the results of the last General Elections held in India?

4. What inferences can you draw about the political attitude of the middle class on the basis of the results of the last General Elections held in India?  

भारत में हुए पिछले आम चुनावों के परिणामों के आधार पर आप मध्यम वर्ग के राजनीतिक रवैये के बारे में क्या निष्कर्ष निकाल सकते हैं?

Introduction:

Political attitude refers to the attitude and beliefs of common citizen about the political system, related institutions, leadership and other events of public life. Political attitude of citizens determines their voting pattern. The latest General Election results too reveal the political attitude of citizens.

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Inferences about the political attitude of the middle class:

The last held general election was different from any other held in India in the sense that for this election, the ruling party as well as the opposition were in serious election mode for almost four years before it was held. The middle class which comprise almost 2/3rd of the population played a decisive role in the final results. It can be inferred that

• Leadership: The election was majorly fought in the name of the Prime Minister candidate. The 2 previous general elections showed that the middle class prefer a strong leader with international credibility. Further, Survey report states that, majority of middle-class youth voted for the winning party. It reveals that the youth prefer an experienced, strong and credible leader who can take bold decisions. 
• Image and credibility: PM candidate with an image of an honest and a Hindu nationalist leader influenced political attitude of middle class. E.g. campaigns like ‘Main Bhi Chowkidar’ were a great success.
• Religion: Fortunately/Unfortunately as Gandhiji has said religion is always mixed with politics. The issues like Ayodhya, Sabarimala, Triple Talaq played a major role in influencing the political attitude of the middle class. This can be seen in increased presence of ruling party in states like Kerala and several constituencies of UP with Muslim majority.
• Administration: The major influence is the absence of corruption or major scandals which built credibility of ruling party positively impacting the middle class who are the most affected by inefficient administration.
• Nationalism: The strong leadership with befitting replies to incidents like Pulwama bolstered the image of the government which played a major role on middle classes favoring the ruling party. It was also inferred, in spite of unemployment rate being 45 year high (affecting middle classes), farmer distress being worrying – they were over-ridden by the nationalist issues.
• Psychological factor: the rise of right-wing politics is on the rise not only in India but in the entire world. To an extent, the Hindu nationalism worked for the winning party in several states and it reveals the middle-class political attitude towards rightist issues as affirmative.
• Women: the steps taken towards women empowerment which includes various women centered schemes as well as political empowerment with Women defence minister, external affairs minister etc., helped influencing the middle-class women in favor of the winning party.

Conclusion

The needs, aspirations and ambitions of middle class is changing which is also influencing the political attitude. At the same time, issues vis-à-vis religion, nationalism has and will always play a major role. However, it can definitely be inferred that the issues of employment, economic growth, efficient administration are taking the main-seat which is influencing political attitude of middle class.