UP Elections: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

The good:
1. Gadkari has been reined in. Modi has agreed to campaign in UP. That should boost the sagging spirits of the BJP grassroots workers in UP. As we have said on this blog, grassroots workers always respect people with achievements rather than recommendations in their bags.

2. Uma Bharati is definitely making a difference in Western UP. She is a very capable leader who works very well independently. She is an extremely valuable asset and should be handled properly by better leaders than Gadkari.

3. Akhilesh Yadav’s ascent should be a lesson to incapable senior leaders of all parties. This guy has brought SP back from the dead. He seems to be sincere and connects well with people. Hopefully he will be less corrupt than his father and really secular. This is what meritocracy is all about. A younger, more capable leader must be allowed to shine on his or her own.

4. Voter awareness seems to be on the rise. In an article, Seema Mustafa writes about this BJP leader from Badaun (of course she left his name out): In a significant development, not often heard in UP in the past, voters are quite happy to denounce or praise a candidate for the work he or she has done regardless of the party. In Badaun, for instance, the Muslim voters were full of praise for the local BJP candidate who was described as "good man" and as they put it, "a leader who will rush here on his cycle within minutes if he call him." Yet another example of a leader with great promise being held back in anonymity.

5. People are not falling for cheap tricks (4.5% reservation for Muslims or forgiving the farmer loans). Muslims have so far rejected any overtures from Congress. Rahul Gandhi is a complete non-factor. He has been ill treated in some constituencies. In fact things have become so bad that his sister has to come out to save him.

6. Mayawati is destined to lose her power (BSP will not win as many seats this time) but her dalit votebank seems to be holding fast for her. Hopefully the urban and semi rural middle class and others will go out in droves to vote against her.

7. We all hope that Team Anna and Baba Ramdev will also come out and raise their voices against the status quo. These people received a lot of support from UP. It is time to repay the favor.

The Bad:
The 1. As we have said on this blog many times that UP is such a big prize that these elections are bringing out the worst in all the parties. The BJP has shown that they are not averse to fielding criminal candidates if they can help them. Whatever happened to the “party with a difference” thing?

2. Mulayam’s promises (hopefully he will remain as far from the CM’s seat as he is today) will bankrupt the state. These people have not learned anything from the mistakes made by politicians in Andhra and Tamilnadu.

3. From the looks of it, no single party will enough seats to form a government on their own. This means a coalition government. Some leftist fan of BSP is predicting a BJP-BSP government. All that means is that UP will remain mired in the same shit as before. But the responsibility of that will be on the voters of UP. It took voters of Bihar about 25 years to break free from Lalloo Yadav’s talons. Let us see how long does it take the UP’ites to break free from BSP / SP combine.

The Ugly:

1. Congress is trying to win their Muslim votebank by offering them 4.5% reservation. This is going to really polarize UP. Of course the helpless residents of the state are going to pay the price not the Crown Prince.

2. BJP’s leadership issues are going to hurt the party badly. No sooner did the party start to look good than Kalraj Mishra started to make statements saying Uma Bharati cannot be the CM candidate because she is an outsider. Wow! As Akshay Kumar said in Hera Pheri (I am paraphrasing): the buffalo is grazing and this guy has already started to sell yogurt / curd. Then of course you have Rajnath Singh who is trying to impose his son on the State BJP, a move that has already caused problems. Both Singh and Mishra have been in charge of UP for the last fifteen years and have done NOTHING to improve the party’s stature in the state. What right do these two have to demand anything? My advice to them is to shut up and let those people take over who are decidedly more capable. On this blog we have repeatedly proposed the name of Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi. I hope that strong leaders would prevail in UP and not let this “top job” issue derail the party.

3. In the same article, Seema Mustafa also says about the much loved BJP leader from Badaun:." Their (Muslim’s) dislike for the BJP will prevent them from voting for him directly, they say, but they will be quite happy if he wins on his own vote as he did last time. This is really pathetic. On this blog, we pride ourselves in being “India First” conservatives. If we think that a non-BJP / non-Hindu can make a difference then we have not shied from proposing their names. Readers of this blog know that we do not care about who brings about the positive change as long as it is positive. We have proposed names of religious minorities, Congressmen and other based totally on merit. We wish that these Muslims would get over their aversion and vote for the right person no matter the origin.

The Seema Mustafa article can be read at: http://www.rediff.com/news/slide-show/slide-show-1-up-elections-2012-which-way-will-the-tide-turn/20120121.htm
The picture is from: http://freepressjournal.in/news/32998-UP--KURUKSHETRA.html