Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s approval ratings have slumped amid the COVID-19 crisis in the country, two surveys showed according to Reuters. India’s tally of COVID-19 caseload has crossed the 25.5 million mark as the country reported 4,529 deaths on Tuesday, a one-day record.

US data intelligence company Morning Consult’s tracker global leaders showed a drastic fall in PM Modi’s approval ratings. The BJP leader’s ratings this week stand at 63%, his lowest since the Morning Consult began tracking his popularity in August 2019. PM Modi dropped 22 points in April. 

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A survey by Indian polling agency CVOTER discovered that the number of respondents, who were “very much satisfied” with his performance, had dropped to 37% from around 65% a year ago. According to the data, for the first time, the dissatisfied outnumbered the satisfied. 

“The prime minister is facing the biggest political challenge of his career,” CVOTER founder Yashwant Deshmukh told Reuters.

On Tuesday, former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi had said that India’s future needs the present Modi system to be shaken out of sleep.

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“The country would not have been in such a painful situation today if access to vaccines (against coronavirus) was as easy as arresting people under the Modi ‘system’ for raising questions,” Rahul Gandhi said.

“Stop Corona, not questions raised by the public. In the time to come, children will need protection from Corona. Paediatric services and vaccine-treatment protocol should already be in place. India’s future needs for the present Modi ‘system’ to be shaken out of sleep,” he further added.

This is in sharp contrast to the CVOTER survey conducted in January 2021, which revealed that 59.22% of people across India preferred Modi as the Prime Minister as compared to Rahul Gandhi.

The next general elections in India are scheduled to be held in 2024.

India logged 2,67,334 new COVID-19 cases, 4,529 deaths on Tuesday.