Modi ki Guarantee-Ram Lalla Darshan Yojana.
The promise, displayed on giant hoardings, is what welcomes you to Raipur as you exit the airport. Even those who live in the hinterlands of Chhattisgarh have been assured of a darshan at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya if Prime Minister Narendra Modi retains power after the Lok Sabha polls.
Sure enough, the grand new Ram Temple has become the focal point of the BJP's campaign in heartland states-Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Together, these states have 214 of 543 Lok Sabha seats, and Modi hopes they will power him to victory for a third consecutive time. The BJP has, indeed, left no stone unturned to woo south India-the Ram idol in Ayodhya was sculpted in stone by a Mysuru artist-but the party continues to depend heavily on support from the Hindi heartland.
Barring Uttar Pradesh, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance won almost all the seats in all these states in 2019. So the BJP has its task cut out: raise its UP tally while maintaining the high numbers in all other states.
The party won 62 seats in UP in 2019, down from 71 in 2014. Its ally Apna Dal won two seats in 2019. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which drew a blank in 2014 and won 10 seats in 2019 (in a brief alliance with the Samajwadi Party), has become so dormant that even its supporters share the common perception that party chief Mayawati has yielded to the BJP. With senior BSP leaders having joined other parties, the 10 seats are up for grabs. The SP, which won only five seats in 2019, is out to regain its lost domain, while the Congress is struggling to look beyond Raebareli, the lone seat won by party leader Sonia Gandhi. With Sonia having moved to the Rajya Sabha because of her ill health, and Rahul Gandhi having been defeated in Amethi in 2019, the Congress's prospects remain bleak.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة May 05, 2024 من THE WEEK India.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة May 05, 2024 من THE WEEK India.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
What Will It Take To Clean Up Delhi Air?
IT IS ASKED, year after year, why Delhi’s air remains unbreathable despite several interventions to reduce pollution.
Trump and the crisis of liberalism
Although Donald Trump's election to a non-consecutive second term to the US presidency is not unprecedented—Grover Cleveland had done it in 1893—it is nevertheless a watershed moment.
Men eye the woman's purse
A couple of months ago, I chanced upon a young 20-something man at my gym walking out with a women’s sling bag.
When trees hold hands
A filmmaker explores the human-nature connect through the living root bridges
Ms Gee & Gen Z
The vibrant Anuja Chauhan and her daughter Nayantara on the generational gap in romance writing
Vikram Seth-a suitable man
Our golden boy of literature was the star attraction at the recent Shillong Literary Festival in mysterious Meghalaya.
Superman bites the dust
When my granddaughter Kim was about three, I often took her to play in a nearby park.
OLD MAN AND THE SEA
Meet G. Govinda Menon, the 102-year-old engineer who had a key role in surveying the Vizhinjam coast in the 1940s, assessing its potential for an international port
Managing volatility: smarter equity choices in uncertain markets
THE INDIAN STOCK MARKET has delivered a strong 11 per cent CAGR over the past decade, with positive returns for eight straight years.
Investing in actively managed low-volatility portfolios keeps risks at bay
AFTER A ROARING bull market over the past year, equity markets in the recent months have gone into a correction mode as FIIs go on a selling spree. Volatility has risen and investment returns are hurt.