UP Elections 2017: A Virtual Semi-Final For Lok Sabha 2019

This is not just another assembly election. It’s a virtual semi-final for the 2019 Lok Sabha.

- Kunal Pradhan

IN Uttar Pradesh capital, with the 2017 Assembly elections a few months away, the tapestry is being hung up in preparation for democracy’s next dance. Outside the airport, the pillars of the Lucknow Metro are being spruced up for its trial run to Charbagh railway station. The ring road—named Shaheed Path in honour of India’s martyrs from the independence movement—offers a new skyline for the drive into the city, with thousands of apartments sprouting from freshly landscaped colonies. Signposts are being painted to guide people to IT City, being built in Chak Ganjaria, as well as to the international cricket stadium, coming up at Ekana Sportz City. The Gomti river, the city’s life-blood, is getting a new waterfront too. Lest one forgets who to thank, these development projects are being adorned with cut outs of chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, his father Mulayam, his uncle Shivpal, as well as multiple cousins, uncles, aunts and daughters-in-law from the Yadav clan, which controls the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP).

In the heart of Lucknow, the pink sandstone monuments constructed by Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Mayawati during her regime are flanked by giant hoardings, on which she promises to storm back to power. With images of Dalit icon B.R. Ambedkar and her former mentor Kanshi Ram used liberally, the salwar-suit-wearing, handbag-toting “Dalit ki beti” is back from a five-year hibernation, ready to challenge all comers—from “weak” Akhilesh, to “lost” Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, and even Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose regime has been “riddled with failures”.