Welcome summer, with deepening water crisis

How good are grandpas?

ASTROLOGICAL predictions are not necessary to cause a scare in hearts of many in the ruling National Democratic Alliance about the possible outcome of the polls for the 14th Lok Sabha, which will be completed by the mid-May this year. The objective assessment of the ground realities are enough to cause scare despite the intense campaign on a theme of "Shinning India" launched by the NDA Government for the months and picked up, without payment of royalties to the government for it, by the Bharatiya Janata Party.

It is abundantly clear that there is no issue before the electorate in this election even though the BJP managers are busy in reinventing the party on the basis of its new theme of ‘development and governance’. The party had adopted this slogan in the last assembly elections to catch the young generation of voters by promising a dream of new economic achievements. The adoption of new dream made the party give up completely its old theme based on the religious sentiments woven around the Ram Janambhoomi temple in Ayodhya. The new theme was adopted because the BJP managers had realised that they were unable to sell the religion to new voters. The new generation has its eyes elsewhere.

So comes in the picture the caste-based politics and new leaders who have been thriving on the basis of their caste appeals. The last assembly election in Uttar Pradesh has also established that Chief Minister Mulayam Singh’s appeal is not confined merely to Yadavs among the Other Backward Classes. Had it remained confined to only Yadavs, he would not have been able to bag 150 seats in the State Assembly, almost 40 per cent more than the final tally of the BJP. His appeal has now attracted other castes among the OBCs because he has proved that he was capable of championing their cause. Now he has teamed up with Ajit Singh of Rashtriya Lok Dal for the Lok Sabha election in the State, leaving 10 seats for him.

It is an effective combination in the given political circumstances. The BJP has tried to steal the show from Mulayam and Ajit combine by fielding former Chief Minister Kalyan Singh from a constituency in the western district of the State. Kalyan Singh has also boasted that not only he would win the seat allotted to him by the BJP but his presence would also have a positive impact on several adjoining constituencies in the western parts of the State.

But surveys, conducted by several reputed agencies as well as by former Union Minister Arun Nehru, suggest that the BJP would end up with less number of seats in Uttar Pradesh than it had gained in the 1999 elections. Since the Congress is also slated to lose few of its seats in the State, the question is often asked who would gain these seats that two national parties stood to lose in the State? Obvious answer is Mulayam Singh and his alliance because he has shown that single-handedly he was capable of beating both the national parties------the BJP and Congress. Between the two of them, they could not even reach the figure of 100 seats in the assembly while he had scored 150 seats alone for his party. He has transformed himself and moulded his politics to serve the modern age and new aspirations of the people of Uttar Pradesh. Many of them may not be literate but they are not ignorant and know which way winds are blowing.

Mulayam Singh has got the industrialists from Mumbai to come to his rescue by forming the State Development Planning Board with industrialists occupying all the positions. He got a new super power station promise from Ambanis and also made Nandan Nilekani of Infosys to press the Information Technology in serving the State needs. In less then three months, several blocks have been laced with Infothela, a center where farmers could get all the information they need for marketing of their produce. He appointed educated youth to serve the centers so the illiterate farmers also had the information needed from the computer centers connected with Internet Services.

He has also set up a modest target of 40 plus seats for his combine in the Lok Sabha though his enthusiastic supporters claim that he would gain 50 plus seats in the 14th Lok Sabha. He can then play a decisive role in the national polity, a role that Chandrababu Naidu, Chief Minister of Andhra, had played in the last five years. He can speed up the development of the State at a much faster rate and thus consolidate his hold over the State electorate. Mulayam Singh is not playing a political game of immediate results but he is playing a long-term stakes because he can afford to as years are with him and not against him as they are for leaders of old vintage in different parties.