8 PMs, yet UP missed the growth story

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It may be tempting to dismiss this as a pointer good enough only to be noticed by mere trivia buffs, but the 2009 General Elections are likely to be the first instance of Uttar Pradesh not fielding a single serving or former Prime Minister from its sprawling constituencies. Staggering as it may sound, but in every single poll since 1952, the dusty plains of the state have had one such candidate, in the process giving the nation eight Prime Ministers. And perhaps it's in this seemingly minor fact lies the tragedy of India's largest and most politically influential state. From Jawaharlal Nehru, a man who laid the foundation of India's public sector and administrative backbone, to Indira Gandhi, the only woman and one of the most powerful Prime Ministers ever; and from our most charismatic and youngest Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi to the statesman-like Atal Behari Vajpayee, Uttar Pradesh's....

The Lesson from 1999

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It was an innocuous single column story in a national daily ten years ago which triggered a little chronicled episode of skullduggery in Indian politics. A man, widely heralded as the architect of the great Indian economic revival, a darling of middle-class India, a man known for his integrity and honesty had just lost an election from a constituency where a large number of voters were exactly those who believed, furthered and propagated this image. These voters were largely educated, urbane and had been the biggest beneficiaries of the benefits of his policy changes. Yet, South Delhi Parliamentary constituency, one of the most upper middle-class of the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi, had decided to hand Dr Manmohan Singh a resounding defeat in his maiden attempt to be an elected represented in Parliament. Politics usually defies the inevitable. It indeed challenges any sort of predictability and is....