This time, it’s personal for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

A 4% slide in his own popularity ratings in a span of just 4 months is bound to trigger some amount of alarm for the emblematic leader on whose image the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept to national power in 2014. That the BJP went on to make considerable in-roads in parts of the country they had never had any real influence in, is a testament to the success of Brand Modi.

Given this ubiquitousness, it is likely that the recent ‘Mood of the Nation Survey’ by India Today, which shows that his popularity has dropped from 53% in January 2018 to 49% in July 2018, will have rung alarm bells for the BJP’s star strategists – party president Amit Shah and of course, Modi himself.