Also fundamentally quality of life is much much higher than it was in 2004. In 2004 much of India didn’t have basic plumbing(even in urban areas!), places were far less electrified , and in general things were far less developed.
I saw this first hand as when I visited India in 2005 it felt like going decades back in time , while when I visited India in 2022 it felt like a modern place . Technology has also made a huge difference as in 2022 it seemed like every street vendor used UPI which is huge . Now the street vendor no longer has to take time of the day to deposit money into their bank accounts , can watch tv/make phone calls on one device which is much cheaper for them .
While they might not be getting the income to be considered middle class , technological advancements have made living like the middle class easier than before .
The issue for the BJP is that the lower-income half of the Indian population experienced income loss in the last 4 years.
There were clear underemployment issues back in 2019 as well but it was overcome by the perception that
a) Modi is the solution and not the problem (targeted BJP welfare programs which they give credit to Modi for helps)
b) INC is not the solution
c) My current economic situation has to do with me and does not reflect the overall national situation
d) I am voting for something bigger (national greatness under Modi)
This time around I think the power of a) is getting weaker (Modi has been in power for 10 years now). b) is still true. c) is mostly true but only because the MSM is mostly pushing a pro-BJP message. d) is most likely true (Ram Mandir, India becoming superpower after "1000 years of darkness" (as per Modi)) but in suspect
So the question mostly becomes how much has a) c) and d) degraded since 2019. I would say a bit, or enough for NDA not to get to 380-400 seats but nowhere close to enough for NDA to come anyway close to losing power.
