A snap poll published by an association of polling organisations, the Gallup International Association revealed that a whopping 91% Indians reposed faith in the Modi government as they stated that the government is doing well to combat the pandemic.
This is the second such poll conducted by the polling organisation based in Switzerland with the earlier poll which was conducted in Mid-March saw 83% Indians crediting the government in the fight against the virus. This effectively means that the amount of people having faith in the Modi government in the backdrop of the pandemic, has risen by 8%.
The poll which was conducted in 28 countries has given a massive shot in the arm for the policies adopted by the Modi government to combat the Wuhan coronavirus as majority of the country believes that the Modi government is doing well to contain the virus. India was one of the first countries to enforce a nationwide lockdown despite having a few hundred cases of the virus back then as the Modi government didn’t beat around the bush like US President Trump.
In a welcome development, 97% of the people interviewed in India agreed that the lockdown is the need of the hour to combat the highly contagious virus. This is significant as there have been sporadic protests in the USA where people are protesting against the lockdown. The Modi government has been successful at convincing the masses over the need to follow the lockdown.
Anyone who has followed the virus since it was first reported in China knows that countries like Taiwan, the USA and India were among the quickest to react by restricting travel to and fro from China despite the WHO’s wrong assertion that there is no need to restrict flights from China. On January 31, a day after India’s first case was reported, the government advised all the airlines to suspend their flight to China. On February 4, India stopped E-Visas for Chinese nationals. Patients and any contacts of the patients who came later were being quarantined.
Continuing with their proactiveness, the Modi government made the difficult decision to call for a ‘Janta Curfew’ on March 22 and then a 21-day complete lockdown in order the prevent the disease from blowing up. An emerging economy like India with 1.3 billion people decided on a complete and largely successful lockdown even when the number of cases is relatively low and pressure on hospitals infrastructure has not been witnessed yet.
Unlike Singapore, where the government has been forced to eat its own words and has been forced to go into a lockdown earlier this month as Singapore was hit with a second wave of infections, the Modi government has not put a foot wrong as there is no scope of error in a country with 1.3 billion people.
This has of course, played a key role in the rising optimism levels in the country as the survey reveals that 75% people in the country believe that the worst is in the past and India is on the road to recovery.
In perhaps what can be an indication to the Tablighi Jamaat fiasco, 66% people in India stated that they believe that one particular religious community is knowingly spreading the virus in the country.
The poll by Gallup International further reaffirms the stringent steps and zero error policy taken by the Modi government to combat the Wuhan coronavirus.