THE LAAL SINGH CHADDHA MOMENT IN INDIAN POLITICS

Another year. And the heartburns and the headaches from the last continue. Comrades, the hangover is the party.

- CP SURENDRAN

And it never ends. 'Birth, and copulation, and death,' as the poet said. Add to it politics. That pretty much sums it up. But, still, the India of 2023 is not likely to be the India of 2022. Nine state elections are coming up: Tripura, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Rajasthan, Telangana, Jammu and Kashmir. Is the Congress ready for it? No. They are watching Rahul Gandhi walk: someone has found his feet.

In Tripura, Meghalaya, and Nagaland, the BJP is in power on its own or in alliance with local parties. In Karnataka, the BJP leads. In Chhattisgarh, the Congress is in power. In MP, it was first the Congress and now the BJP. In Mizoram, it is neither the BJP nor the Congress but the Mizo National Front. In Rajasthan, it is the Congress Party despite the best attempts by the BJP. In Telangana, a local party, Bharat Rashtra Samithi, led by K Chandrashekar Rao, is sitting pretty for the moment. The states of Jammu and Kashmir are under the president's rule, which means the BJP writ goes. The results of polls in these states, though, will pretty much indicate how the 2024 general elections will turn out. It will also test the real political dividends of Rahul Gandhi's walk.

The single event that might yet change Indian politics happens to be the discovery of one man, Rahul Gandhi. He has found out that walking is injurious to his enemies.

His Bharat Jodo Yatra will resume its UP phase today (January 3), after a week's break in Delhi. The reinvention of Rahul Gandhi is the Laal Singh Chaddha moment in Indian politics.