New Delhi, Nov 21 Contrary to what pundits opined in the immediate aftermath, Prime Minister Narendra Modis image and political capital does not seem to have been dented after he announced the repeal of all three farm laws on November 19. This was revealed by a an -CVoter snap opinion poll conducted across India hours after his announcement of the repeal.
More than 52 per cent of the respondents said the Prime Minister had taken the right decision. This is to be expected since some analysts claim that the farm laws were bad to begin with and their repeal would surely be welcome.
Actually, more than 50 per cent of the respondents asserted that the farm laws were beneficial for the farmers, while a considerably lower 30.6 per cent claimed they were not.
The Modi regime can take comfort from another revelation in the poll. While 40.7 per cent of the respondents gave credit to the government for the repeal of the farm laws, just about 22.4 per cent gave credit to the opposition parties, while a healthy 37 per cent gave credit to the protesters.
Perhaps the most important metric to emerge out of this poll is what ordinary Ind think about Modi's approach to farmers. A clear majority of 58.6 per cent of the respondents said that Modi was actually pro-farmer, while a comparatively meagre 29 per cent though he was anti-farmer.
Even more interesting, more than 50 per cent of opposition voters think Modi is pro-farmer. Lastly, when respondents were asked about the real motives behind the lengthy and contentious agitation that led to the repeal of the farm laws, a big majority of 56.7 per cent were convinced the agitation was politically motivated with a plan to weaken the Modi-led NDA government. Just 35 per cent of the respondents had a contrary opinion.
The data from the poll results after the repeal of the farm laws seem to suggest that all those celebrating the political emasculation might have to wait before they pop open their champagne bottles.
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