It seems fitting to start a new blog in the context of the changing political situation in India. The BJP has won a historic election in India and people have voted a controversial man, Narendra Modi to be the next Prime Minister of India.
In many ways this election was historic, be it the decimation of Congress in every corner of the country or the negation of the regional satraps who had a strong votebank in the form of religion or caste. Many political pundits are grappling with understanding this mandate as their classic political analysis of Hindutva or caste polarization has failed to explain the results in this election. During the electioneering, even a month before the election results, Ravish Kumar, prime-time presenter with NDTV-India was showing ground reports in UP which made us believe that the Muslim-Yadav votebank of SP and SC/ST votebank of the BSP is not only intact but thriving. In a way he disregarded the election polls which were showing 50 plus seats for the BJP owing to his analysis. Hence, the political analysts have much to explain in terms of this mandate.
The political scenario is undergoing a churning and a new kind of narrative has to emerge that explains this mandate. I say this because this is not just a vote against anti-incumbency but a vote for change. It is a vote where everything that Congress stands for has been negated. Imagine a political party winning an election without promising even a paisa of dole.
In this blog some of these questions will be raised to understand this mandate. How does anti-incumbency effect only UP and not Tamil-Nadu for instance? How does Nitish Kumar widely known as the Vikas Purush of Bihar lose an election which was largely fought on the development plank? Many candidates from the BJP belonged to the OBC who won in UP. Is it safe to assume that although people have voted on caste lines have not done so on party lines? What does this mandate mean for Muslims in UP where for the first time after independence no Muslim MP has won?
As Ravish Kumar rightly points out that all the students of political science must start reading politics from scratch and that all the political books be rewritten.
In many ways this election was historic, be it the decimation of Congress in every corner of the country or the negation of the regional satraps who had a strong votebank in the form of religion or caste. Many political pundits are grappling with understanding this mandate as their classic political analysis of Hindutva or caste polarization has failed to explain the results in this election. During the electioneering, even a month before the election results, Ravish Kumar, prime-time presenter with NDTV-India was showing ground reports in UP which made us believe that the Muslim-Yadav votebank of SP and SC/ST votebank of the BSP is not only intact but thriving. In a way he disregarded the election polls which were showing 50 plus seats for the BJP owing to his analysis. Hence, the political analysts have much to explain in terms of this mandate.
The political scenario is undergoing a churning and a new kind of narrative has to emerge that explains this mandate. I say this because this is not just a vote against anti-incumbency but a vote for change. It is a vote where everything that Congress stands for has been negated. Imagine a political party winning an election without promising even a paisa of dole.
In this blog some of these questions will be raised to understand this mandate. How does anti-incumbency effect only UP and not Tamil-Nadu for instance? How does Nitish Kumar widely known as the Vikas Purush of Bihar lose an election which was largely fought on the development plank? Many candidates from the BJP belonged to the OBC who won in UP. Is it safe to assume that although people have voted on caste lines have not done so on party lines? What does this mandate mean for Muslims in UP where for the first time after independence no Muslim MP has won?
As Ravish Kumar rightly points out that all the students of political science must start reading politics from scratch and that all the political books be rewritten.
Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Therefore every effort to polarize the community will have an equal reverse-polarization effect. This time the Muslim votes didn't make a difference in UP is because of reverse-polarization.
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