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Journalism of Courage
V.P. Singh may have cut the cake. But Mulayam Singh Yadav can still have it. The UP chief minister, however, would have to ensure his reelection strategy is not based solely on gesture politics. The latest example of the wrong kind of strategy is the offer of a monthly honorarium for those jailed during the Emergency. The horror that was the Emergency doesn8217;t make this announcement any less devoid of real meaning. His rivals 8212; the BSP, the BJP, an amorphous coalition of Congress, V.P. Singh and assorted UP leaders, and possibly a Muslim political entity 8212; would expect him to do this kind of stuff and they, going by current evidence, would respond in kind. The trick for Mulayam is to go to the electorate with a governance card and while he may not know it, he8217;s already shown he can do that.
The encouragement given to private sugar mills has changed the dynamics of sugarcane cultivation in western UP, as The Sunday Express reported. Farmers8217; incomes have increased, mills are competing to procure sugar, investment is holding out the real promise that better earnings are not just a one-season phenomenon. All this happened after years of government procurement agencies treating farmers like supplicants. This difference between treating development as the prerogative of a mai-baap sarkar and making it a private sector-led initiative holds the key to a different poll strategy for Mulayam.
