Ground Reality

     Neeraj Bajpai   For 2019 General elections, leaders of political parties have started huddling in war rooms, and are deeply engaged in back channels dialogues to stitch alliances for a sure shot clincher at the hustings .      Strange bedfellows’ syndrome is an order of the day. Stakeholders are making desperate bids to showcase the credible and winning grouping ahead of polls, due within the next three or four months, to elect 17 th  Lok Sabha. With the first phase of the winter session coming to end this week, parleys among parties have gained momentum, the formal seal on these tie-ups might be stamped only after the declaration of elections because that paves the way of imposition of a code of conduct. Old saying --when the winds of change blow, some people build walls and others windmills-is virtually palpable. And many turncoats can be seen making windmills by crossing sides and some are making walls so that allies don’t run a...

A massive political rally –“BJP Bhagao- Desh Bachao”in Patna on Sunday may be dismissed by skeptics as a routine jamboree of political outfits longing to usurp power at the center in 2019 General elections, But the turn out speaks volumes of RJD Chief Lalu Prasad Yadav’s proficiency in holding such shows despite an avalanche of odds against him and his family, and in many ways the rally can turn out to be a bellwether development in political corridors. The Rally appears to have missed major public attention and screaming coverage on TV screens amid hullabaloo of Rapist Baba Ram Rahim’s exploits expose,but it has carried its own political significance coupled with low lying Arvind Kejriwala’s  Aam Aadmi Party ’s victory in Bwana by polls for a Delhi Assembly seat though the party had faced a lot of criticism on a slew of allegations in the recent past.  Votes were cast in EVMs equipped with VVPAT (Voter verifiable Paper Audit Trail). The Victory margin for AA...

 By Neeraj Bajpai “ It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness….,It was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair”. This Historic quote of eminent writer Charles Dickens aptly fits in the current political scenario in the world’s most populous and vibrant democracy -India. Darwin’s theory of survival of the fittest is order of the day.Opposition parties,which used to be most vociferous on the government’s policies and ruling party,are reduced to a rump apparently because of their own doings. Credibility of even some notables of the Grand old party (GOP),Congress, is at stake, and almost in every major election held since 2014, the party’s political space is getting shrunk and  marginalized. Prospects of its revival in near future look dim given a sense of despondency visible among rank and file after every defeat- especially Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.The phenomenon has its cascading impact ...