India for All?: Assessing the Impact of Health on Political Participation in India

Since Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) assumed power with broad support in 2014, Indian politics has been undergoing a great transition, emphasizing the vision of “India for all” through inclusive growth. However, achieving and sustaining inclusive growth requires equal political participation, and yet there remains a substantial gap in citizens’ political engagement in India. Based on rational choice theory and political mobilization theory, I examined whether individuals’ health affects their political participation. Using ordinal logistic regression (OLR), I identified a significant effect of health on political participation in the Indian context. In light of the findings, I proposed several policy implications.