Prime Minister Narendra Modi has got the timeline of Uttar Pradesh’s vanvas wrong. During his uninspiring speech in Lucknow on 2 January, Modi drew on this motif from the Ramayana. He reminded people that it was 14 years since the BJP lost power in the state but claimed that with his party poised to secure a majority, UP’s bad days would be over soon.
But Modi forgot that while his claim is based on political rhetoric and on what he would like the scenario to be, the actual 14-year-long vanvas for the state began in 1993, the year which heralded the beginning of the period when no single party secured a majority of its own. 1993 also marked the beginning of a period when not a single chief minister lasted an entire term in office.
This phase ended in 2007, when after 14 years, a single party secured an absolute majority, Mayawati became the chief minister and remained in office till 2012 when the Samajwadi Party secured a majority. Modi may claim to be sole haulier of vikas or development, but the people of UP will say that the state turned the corner in 2007, and is now in total contrast to when governments lasted barely a couple of years at the most. Given this sentiment in the state, it is unlikely that UP’s voters will deliver a fractured mandate. The question is which party would emerge as the winner.
Also Read: UP’s Fight to the Top: Who Will Emerge Victorious This Time?