I think there’re a few reasons for this from my time being born and brought up here:
First, India is very much a hierarchical society. People don’t vote for politicians if they appear too “cheap” , a sense of overarching status convinces a lot of people to vote for them. Anecdotal evidence but Ex-Delhi’s chief minister got slapped twice(some people threw ink on him) because he came in as a common man—evidently a bunch of people didn’t respect his power— now he started being aloof and wielding his power , and the slaps stopped happening, although he did get arrested and lost the election afterwards but that’s a different story.
Second, the media is very much pro establishment, due to various financial factors the government has outsized indirect control over the media, via ED (law enforcement raids) , funding political adverts to preferential news outlets, only giving interviews to sycophants or scripted pundits(it has been exposed live before on accident). Dissent is heavily suppressed, corruption is quite normalized or outside of overton window of “major issues”.
Third, India has a huge welfare state, Modi (and his surviving competitors) can be seen as one of the great welfarist in Indian history, despite being alleged “neoliberal” , around 800 million Indians get free food grains from the government, millions of woman get free effectively preferential UBI directly to their bank accounts. (Although the amount is small it’s often enough to get by, but there’re many woman only schemes) Ayushman bharat cover 500k rupees(direct conversion would be 6k$, PPP would be higher) per year-family for healthcare (although implementation is questionable).
Fourth, people have seen worse and the rate of growth is quite enchanting for the ones who have lived long enough. People went from having no TVs to smartphones(50-60% penetrations at the moment) in span of 2 generations (or equivalently having no electricity to being electrified). Although the growth is disparate , having a blooming private sector which works is better than dysfunctional government services for the people who can afford it. Corruption runs rampant in government.
A lot of opposition politicians now want to change that by having 60% reservation based on caste in private sector. Effectively getting more of the bureaucracy (if it wasn’t too much already due to historical laws and socialist past) into the private sector. I mean it’s controversial, hopefully merit based systems remain in private sector (Obviously I would be on the losing end of it, if it ever happens so take it with a grain of salt).
Fifth, majority of workforce is still in agriculture, I remember bringing this up, if there’s an economic crash, the small Indian farmers who’re self sustaining on agriculture may not be that effected by it. Wages mean less if you don’t have any to begin with. It’s how in early europe they had a flood of people from rural areas despite the urban graveyards and lower life expectancy caused by higher population density. (and India has it better with modern healthcare)
Gandhi championed self sustenance, he spinned his own clothes that became a political symbol against outsourcing of labour from for then comparatively much more manual industries to Britain. Although opinions vary many people saw(still see) this as a form of colonialisation, the act of buying our raw produce, making expensive products and selling it back.
There might be more reasons which don’t come to my mind but it’s 5:30 AM IST , so it’s probable that I have covered most of them. (Also writing this comment was a bad decision on my time)
I think there’re a few reasons for this from my time being born and brought up here:
First, India is very much a hierarchical society. People don’t vote for politicians if they appear too “cheap” , a sense of overarching status convinces a lot of people to vote for them. Anecdotal evidence but Ex-Delhi’s chief minister got slapped twice(some people threw ink on him) because he came in as a common man—evidently a bunch of people didn’t respect his power— now he started being aloof and wielding his power , and the slaps stopped happening, although he did get arrested and lost the election afterwards but that’s a different story.
Second, the media is very much pro establishment, due to various financial factors the government has outsized indirect control over the media, via ED (law enforcement raids) , funding political adverts to preferential news outlets, only giving interviews to sycophants or scripted pundits(it has been exposed live before on accident). Dissent is heavily suppressed, corruption is quite normalized or outside of overton window of “major issues”.
Third, India has a huge welfare state, Modi (and his surviving competitors) can be seen as one of the great welfarist in Indian history, despite being alleged “neoliberal” , around 800 million Indians get free food grains from the government, millions of woman get free effectively preferential UBI directly to their bank accounts. (Although the amount is small it’s often enough to get by, but there’re many woman only schemes) Ayushman bharat cover 500k rupees(direct conversion would be 6k$, PPP would be higher) per year-family for healthcare (although implementation is questionable).
Fourth, people have seen worse and the rate of growth is quite enchanting for the ones who have lived long enough. People went from having no TVs to smartphones(50-60% penetrations at the moment) in span of 2 generations (or equivalently having no electricity to being electrified). Although the growth is disparate , having a blooming private sector which works is better than dysfunctional government services for the people who can afford it. Corruption runs rampant in government.
A lot of opposition politicians now want to change that by having 60% reservation based on caste in private sector. Effectively getting more of the bureaucracy (if it wasn’t too much already due to historical laws and socialist past) into the private sector. I mean it’s controversial, hopefully merit based systems remain in private sector (Obviously I would be on the losing end of it, if it ever happens so take it with a grain of salt).
Fifth, majority of workforce is still in agriculture, I remember bringing this up, if there’s an economic crash, the small Indian farmers who’re self sustaining on agriculture may not be that effected by it. Wages mean less if you don’t have any to begin with. It’s how in early europe they had a flood of people from rural areas despite the urban graveyards and lower life expectancy caused by higher population density. (and India has it better with modern healthcare)
Gandhi championed self sustenance, he spinned his own clothes that became a political symbol against outsourcing of labour from for then comparatively much more manual industries to Britain. Although opinions vary many people saw(still see) this as a form of colonialisation, the act of buying our raw produce, making expensive products and selling it back.
There might be more reasons which don’t come to my mind but it’s 5:30 AM IST , so it’s probable that I have covered most of them. (Also writing this comment was a bad decision on my time)