Bhakto's Perspectives

I  am not a psephologist, but in Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, states where I travel frequently and interact with a cross-section of the people, especially in the hinterland, I have a few political observations to make vis-a-vis the 2024 national elections. Many of you would disapprove of my findings, but I do not see INDIA gaining much there.  Bihar (40 seats) - NDA looks set to clinch 30, or more.  Madhya Pradesh (29 seats) -- Congress will likely win 1 to four.  Uttar Pradesh (80 seats) -- NDA 68 seats, +/- 5.  Now the more serious discourse, that is the factors driving such an electoral outcome, despite record-high unemployment and inflation. Sorry, but assault on democracy, the minority question, and crony capitalism do not trigger a large section of voters' preferences. I cannot lie they do simply to make my country look more progressive. They don't.  The factors are three-fold. A, it’s a national election and there has to be a perspective ...

How I predicted a BJP win in Uttar Pradesh amid growing chorus for Samajwadi Party "Election reporting is a craft, no magic" is my response to all those who are asking me how did I aptly predict both the Uttarakhand and UP elections, in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party, despite a wide-ranging perception of a Samajwadi Party rebound in the latter State. Election reporting is not about being obsessed with what I think or my morally upright friends and mentors think. It is about determining what people think. Without attaching moral standards to the respondents, as that would dissuade them from revealing their choice. The multi-dimensional Hindutva games and the mass media's complicity in giving greater circulation to the BJP's messages, communal as they are often, were factors. There were other factors. A quick look.  1. In politics, two and two is not four. The whole notion about the SP's resounding comeback was the outcome of serial defections from the BJP/NDA...

Why Adityanath may secure a second term in UP  Reporting from Varanasi, Ghazipur, Mirzapur, Jaunpur and Mughalsarai. A narrow, earthen track snails through the barren fields of Bharuhana, a village deep inside Mirzapur, roughly 60 kilometres north-west of the temple town of Varanasi. Emaciated cattle tied to tree-trunks in the vicinity of scattered thatch-houses, some of which are disintegrating, betray the penury of its inhabitants. The red flags of the Samajwadi Party warrant your attention. They are everywhere. Atop the huts. Fixed to the handlebar of bicycles. At the enclosure surrounding the hand-pump. Bittu Yadav, a nonchalant twelve-year-old, says he is voting for Akhilesh bhaiya , evoking a laughter among older men. Undeterred, he recounts his ordeal: “It is two years of no school. There are online classes, but few have smart phones.” His cousin Chetan, who is old enough to vote, shares his yearning for change. He says jobs are missing and price-rise is hitting people har...

Patna, Bihar. Bihar elections have always been significant, but this time it also follows months of lockdown and economic uncertainty thrown in due to Covid19 pandemic. Whereas the Opposition in all these months attempted to float a commanding national narrative centred on economic meltdown, migrant workers' crisis and unemployment, the ruling BJP believes Prime Minister Narendra Modi's sway on his supporters remains unchallenged, as it continues to whip up sentiment on nationalistic lines, with copious religious fervour. In this context, as crowds swarmed in Tejashwi Yadav’s rallies, many people became hopeful the Grand Alliance’s (comprising RJD, Congress and Left Parties) pro-development agendas would prevail over Hindutva and dislodge the NDA Government in Bihar. As a political reporter, however, I feel whereas a poor turnout in public meetings is a bad omen, a good turnout gives no guarantees. The crowd swarmed in Rahul Gandhi’s rallies in Bihar in 2010, but Congress bag...