New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity which had been visibly declining since mid-2017 is again seen hovering over the above majority mark. With Lok Sabha elections just few weeks away, ABP News in its latest opinion poll has found 62% respondents still rooting for the prime minister. According to the popularity index, the jump from 50% to 62% can be attributed to India’s swift response in avenging the deadly Pulwama terror attack that claimed lives of 40 CRPF jawans. On February 13th, a day before the attack took place, Modi was seen having the support of just 50% which needs to be noted was once at 66% in the year 2017.



According to the survey, Modi was favoured by 47% on January 1, 2019 which grew to 49% after the announcement of the interim budget on February 1, 2019.

The survey has pointed out that there was a gain of 5 percentage points on February 26 when India conducted pre-emptive air strikes at one of the biggest Jaish-e-Mohammed camps in Pakistan’s Balakot. With Pakistan caving in to India’s pressure of demanding IAF pilot Abhinandan’s safe return, Modi’s charisma again increased to 58% on March 1.

On the contrary, opposition parties and certain political experts have maintained that the popularity graph of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has waned and it could be established with BJP's defeat in Rajasthan and other states in the assembly elections in December last year.



Regardless of how the political narrative concludes this year, Modi has definitely been successful in depicting that India will not adopt a soft-stand on terror and with him claiming that he would hunt terrorists even from the deepest of hell , he’s ensured that hype around Brand Modi has not just eroded.

(The sample size achieved was 50740)