Clashes between protesters and police erupted in cities across the country as India’s biggest trade unions said some 150 million employees joined the mass walkout. The country is the world’s fastest-growing major economy but millions of workers from farming, factory and transport unions are angry at rising inequality and stagnant wages. This latest strike comes as Mr Modi and his right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) battle to maintain their majority in India’s parliament ahead of an imminent general election.
The incumbent leader has seen his hopes of safely securing a second term dashed in recent months as his approval rating slumped following a string of bad economic news.
His popularity plummeted from as high as 69 percent in 2017 to just 46 percent in November 2018, according to The Times, as the opposition gained ground.
And latest polling suggests his popularity problem could see the BJP punished at the polls leaving no majority in parliament.
This comes as Rahul Gandhi, who heads up the centre-left Indian National Congress (INC), has won support.
Mr Gandhi’s approval peaked at 36 percent in October 2018, according to The Times, but has since dipped to the low 30s.
Meanwhile, in a move which will serve to shore up Mr Modi’s core support, the Indian parliament passed a landmark bill which reserves 10 percent of government jobs for people outside high-income brackets.
Criticised by some as a pre-election gimmick amid high unemployment, the bill comes as joblessness in the world’s second most populous country shot up to a 15-month high last month.
The new public sector job quota is expected to mainly benefit the upper echelons of India’s centuries-old caste system, which has traditionally been a core voter base for Mr Modi’s Hindu nationalist BJP.
After the bill was passed by parliament, Mr Modi tweeted: “Glad to see such widespread support for the Bill.
“It ensures a wider canvas for our yuva shakti (youth) to showcase their prowess and contribute towards India’s transformation.”
India already has job and education quotas for its lowest social classes, but this is the first time upper caste Hindus and people from other religions will benefit from affirmative action.
Shahid Siddiqui, a political analyst and former lawmaker, said on Twitter: “There is no food but every hungry man is handed an empty plate, that’s what Modi government is doing with the youth of India.
“There are no jobs, but 10 percent reservation in the line of unemployed.”
Derek O’Brien, from the opposition All India Trinamool Congress party, said the bill was “an acknowledgement of guilt, that we haven’t created any jobs in last four and a half years”.