The electoral scene in India is heating up as the Lok Sabha elections draw nearer. Congress has gone on the offensive in Uttar Pradesh where it has handed the charge to lead the campaign to Jyotiraditya Scindia and Priyanka Gandhi, who has now formally joined the party. On February 11, the duo along with Congress president Rahul Gandhi held a 25 kilometre roadshow from the airport to the party headquarters at Lucknow. It drew thousands of people. The cavalcade was showered with rose petals and the marigold garlands. Congress has decided to go it alone in the state after it was left out of the SP-BSP alliance in the state. The electoral scene in the all-important state which sends 82 members to Parliament is shaping up as a keen triangular contest between the BJP, SP-BSP and the Congress which is trying hard to regain its lost footing in the state. The winner among the three in the UP is certain to become a dominant contender for power at the centre -albeit, the SP-BSP being the state-centric will get only a major role in government formation at the centre should they win most of the seats. The BJP and the Congress will have to back a decent performance in the UP with an adequate showing in the other states. But the political scene in the other states doesn’t show either Congress or the BJP are going to have it easy either. The approaching polls have got the wider opposition too to get its act together. For example, in West Bengal Mamta Banerjee has so far successfully set herself up as a formidable challenger to the BJP. Her recent ‘United India Rally’ at Kolkata’s Brigade Parade Ground drew senior opposition figures from around the country including Dr Farooq Abdullah.Congress also participated in it. But the opposition will have to make more substantive move to come together in the weeks to come to offer a more credible challenge. The BJP under Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not only need the opposition unity but also an alternative ideological narrative which is so far missing. The coming three months will witness the political situation taking dramatic twists and turns. Here’s hoping that the political narrative which is generated in the process is constructive and inclusive. Politics over the past five years has created a toxic environment which has caused deep social strain and rendered minorities especially Muslims as the second class citizens.
UPcoming Elections
