Modi's approval rating tumbles to a new low as India grapples with deadly second wave of COVID-19

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's approval rating have plunged to a new low, a survey by US firm stated, as the India struggles to fight against the devastating second wave of the Coronavirus pandemic.

The US firm began tracking PM's popularity in August 2019. The big decline in the prime minister's popularity was noticed in April this year when his net approval rating dropped 22 points, PM Modi's overall ratings this week stand at 63%, his lowest since August 2019.

The apparent fall came as central government's mismanagement and lack of planning surfaced following the emergence of the second wave of COVID-19.

India's COVID-19 caseload went beyond 25 million this week, exposing a lack of preparation and eroding Modi's support base, according to US data intelligence company Morning Consult's tracker of a dozen global leaders.

In March and April the epidemic seemed to be overwhelming large urban healthcare centres such as in Delhi, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh where people were deprived of oxygen and died in parking lots of the hospitals, hospitals ran out of beds and other medical facilities, bodies were piled up outside crematoriums.

The situation was so grim that a senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said " the people of India — or at least the vast majority — have... come to the conclusion that they have to rely only on themselves, and their families and friends, to protect their lives.

In the battle against COVID-19, the state, especially the central government, has withered away, Chidambaram added.

There was a huge cry from all quarters for help and the chief ministers of various states even pleaded for help regarding the dwindling supply of medical oxygen.

Narendra Modi's tale of popularity is known to almost everybody. He quickly rose in his party and remained the longest serving chief minister of Gujarat. During his regime in the state, the infamous Godhara communal riots took place in 2002. But even that did not cause any damage to his image which he has carefully been fostering for years. He, in fact, emerged as a strong nationalist leader and swept to power at the Centre in 2014. He was once again re-elected in 2019 with a thumping majority that his Hindu nationalist party, the BJP won.

But the sharp and uncontrollable increase in number of positive cases and death toll in the second wave of the pandemic has exposed lack of preparation of the BJP led government, according to US data intelligence company Morning Consult's tracker of a dozen global leaders.

Another survey by the Indian polling agency CVoter too found that for the first time in seven years, the respondents not satisfied with Modi's performance outnumbered those who were satisfied by it. The agency's data showed that the number of respondents "very much satisfied" with PM Modi's performance registered a massive drop from 65 per cent to 37 per cent.