The poor showing of the BJP in three out of the four-state elections has come as an unexpected setback to the Hindutva juggernaut. More so, in West Bengal where the saffron party appeared set to dislodge the redoubtable Mamata Banerjee. But the two-time chief minister has soundly defeated the BJP by winning a landslide majority. And in doing so, Banerjee may have shown to other opposition parties how the unthinkable can be accomplished.
In today’s India, the BJP has everything it takes to win an election: money, muscle, a piece of vaunted electoral machinery, an ideology that has a deep resonance with a critical mass of people and more importantly an overarching politician in the form of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, enabling the party to win election after election. But in Bengal, all these shastras came to nought. That too despite the fact, that the top BJP leaders including the PM Modi and the Home Minister Amit Shah had campaigned vigorously in the state holding several public meetings and roadshows. The BJP had no answer to the fighting spirit of Banerjee and her commitment to secular values. In the words of her election strategist Prashant Kishor, she got into the pit and fought, unlike Congress, which displays a singular lack of the willingness to fight.
STATE OF CONGRESS
Congress is now in dire straits. The party despite its claim to being India’s pre-eminent secular party has never posed an ideological challenge to Modi. Neither in Gujarat where the party has successively failed to wrest the state from the BJP nor in the rest of the country. The BJP has now acquired a truly national profile and Congress is shrinking by the day.
Denne historien er fra May 09, 2021-utgaven av Kashmir Life.
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Denne historien er fra May 09, 2021-utgaven av Kashmir Life.
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Before The Kabul Retreat
Described as the ‘Graveyard of Empires’, Afghanistan was always termed to be at peace when it was at war. But the land-locked desert country that was always in turmoil and one of the worst targets of the Great Game suffered immensely throughout, especially in the last 40 years, Masood Hussain writes
FINGERS CROSSED
Almost everybody in academia and politics that Khalid Bashir Gura spoke to, the response over Kabul happens was simple – wait and watch
Parliamentary Committee In Srinagar
The visiting 28-member Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs have had detailed interactions with top civil administration and discussed developmental scenario and people’s welfare measures in Jammu and Kashmir. It is on a 4-day visit. Congress leader and MP Anand Sharma is heading the committee.
MUSIC IN MUD HOUSE
Deep into north Kashmir, Faheem Mir meet a small community that sings and lives on folk music but is facing a tense situation in the last few years
THE KABUL SPILLOVER?
Security experts are divided over the possible impact of the Kabul situation on Kashmir. But the dramatic Taliban triumph has altered the region’s geopolitics, for the time being, writes Riyaz Wani
Durga Bhawan At Katra
To enhancing facilities for the convenience of the Vaishno Devi pilgrims, Lt Governor Manoj Sinha laid the foundation for the Durga Bhawan, a high utility pilgrim-centric facility worth Rs 24.4 crore. The facility will accommodate 4000 pilgrims.
Women Empowerment
In the first, 480 talented girls from Jammu and Kashmir were included in the degree and diploma courses of the Pragati Scholarship. Jammu and Kashmir has also got nine scholarships under the Saksham Scheme for Persons with Disabilities.
‘SOME HISTORIANS BELIEVE THAT AFGHANISTAN CONFLICT IS THE OUTCOME OF INDIA AND PAKISTAN KASHMIR STAND-OFF'
Foreign policy expert and editor of HardNews magazine, Sanjay Kapoor believes that Taliban 2.0 has more legitimacy unlike in the past as it had signed a deal with the US and negotiated with other countries of the region, but the final verdict can be passed only after it manages ticklish issues involving half of its population, the women
Boredom Is Creative?
Getting bored is not as boring as it gets, writes Azra Hussain
LG In Bangus
Lt Governor, Manoj Sinha inaugurated the Bungus Awaam Mela amidst grand arrangements for village games, exhilarating local performances, and other activities to celebrate the 75th year of Independence.
