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.
Denne historien er fra May 05, 2024-utgaven av THE WEEK India.
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Denne historien er fra May 05, 2024-utgaven av THE WEEK India.
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William Dalrymple goes further back
Indian readers have long known William Dalrymple as the chronicler nonpareil of India in the early years of the British raj. His latest book, The Golden Road, is a striking departure, since it takes him to a period from about the third century BC to the 12th-13th centuries CE.
The bleat from the street
What with all the apps delivering straight to one’s doorstep, the supermarkets, the food halls and even the occasional (super-expensive) pop-up thela (cart) offering the woke from field-to-fork option, the good old veggie-market/mandi has fallen off my regular beat.
Courage and conviction
Justice A.M. Ahmadi's biography by his granddaughter brings out behind-the-scenes tension in the Supreme Court as it dealt with the Babri Masjid demolition case
EPIC ENTERPRISE
Gowri Ramnarayan's translation of Ponniyin Selvan brings a fresh perspective to her grandfather's magnum opus
Upgrade your jeans
If you don’t live in the top four-five northern states of India, winter means little else than a pair of jeans. I live in Mumbai, where only mad people wear jeans throughout the year. High temperatures and extreme levels of humidity ensure we go to work in mulmul salwars, cotton pants, or, if you are lucky like me, wear shorts every day.
Garden by the sea
When Kozhikode beach became a fertile ground for ideas with Manorama Hortus
RECRUITERS SPEAK
Industry requirements and selection criteria of management graduates
MORAL COMPASS
The need to infuse ethics into India's MBA landscape
B-SCHOOLS SHOULD UNDERSTAND THAT INDIAN ECONOMY IS GOING TO WITNESS A TREMENDOUS GROWTH
INTERVIEW - Prof DEBASHIS CHATTERJEE, director, Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode
COURSE CORRECTION
India's best b-schools are navigating tumultuous times. Hurdles include lower salaries offered to their graduates and students misusing AI
