Lame in Lucknow

Last heard, the BJP8217;s state unit was still sitting on indefinite dharna in Varanasi. Meanwhile, BJP legislators have been bringing the ...

Last heard, the BJP8217;s state unit was still sitting on indefinite dharna in Varanasi. Meanwhile, BJP legislators have been bringing the House down in the Vidhan Sabha in Lucknow. And visiting national leaders, most notably L.K. Advani, have proclaimed that party8217;s intent to raise the pitch yet higher in the state. As it protests the killing of party MLA Krishnanand Rai in Ghazipur district, the BJP8217;s anger is certainly legitimate. But its resignation-or-else ultimatums to the Mulayam Singh government are wearying. As tiresome as the Congress rhetoric in UP, which regularly confines itself to painting the state government in the most dire hues. This apocalyptic discourse, this easy talk of the dismissal of an elected government, and rote sloganeering about 8216;jungle raj8217; and 8216;mafia raj8217;, is ugly and opaque. More, in what is arguably India8217;s politically most exciting state, it may be completely missing the point.

The recent verdict in Bihar has just given the nation a glimpse of those ground level stirrings for a better life that can defy the most tried and tested political calculus, pierce even the most frozen vote banks. But the two national parties, Congress and BJP, appear to have failed to carry home the larger message from Bihar. In neighbouring UP, they continue to rant in the same old congealed language. Be it the BJP8217;s agitational politics on law and order and the Congress8217;s own version of the same, or the recycling by both parties of their rehearsed lines from dog-eared Mandal and Mandir scripts, the national parties are trapped in their echo chambers in UP.

The regional outfits appear more agile, more in step with changing times. Mayawati8217;s recent successes in wooing Brahmins may be the reward for daring to reach across boundaries and attempt a more expansive politics. There are indications that the Mulayam Singh government is trying to change the subject to development projects in the needy state. The Congress and BJP had better catch up with the SP and BSP, if they want to remain in the running in the state.