What Drives The Party Workers? Stories From Around India

A journey through the electoral battle at its most fascinating and vicious— where the foot soldiers fight it out

- Ruben Banerjee

Politics, it is said, divides everyone but politicians, and a few social events that I have attended in Lutyens Delhi have in no way dispelled the perception. Mirth and merriment are never in short supply as leaders from across the political spectrum bury their hatchets over food and drinks. they invariably include rival politicians who would have come to the gatherings straight from TV studios after savagely targeting each other.

But far away from the rarefied Delhi circuit, there exists another political reality where niceties and camaraderie find little room. Here, the contest is no holds barred and brutal. With life and livelihood often dependent on the outcome, the fight is existential. How much of it is over ideology or the power and pelf that come with winning elections is debata­ ble. But the fact that poll contests are more intense and inv­ ariably at their vicious best on the ground among foot soldiers of various parties has never been in doubt.

Elections 2019 promise to be no different. The run­up to the Lok Sabha and a clutch of assembly elections will follow a pre­dictable pattern, and be as colourful, boisterous and possibly divisive as ever. With polling dates announced, the bugle has been sounded and battle lines are drawn. It is now time for the slugfest to unfold across actual frontlines—far away from the comfort of party headquarters and TV studios—with the party faithful taking the fight right down to cities, towns, panch ayats and 10 lakh polling booths spread across the expanse of this politically­divided nation.