The Revival of Congress in UP

The biggest surprise of this elections has been the revival of the congress party in the state of Uttar Pradesh. The media has been hailing the contribution of Rahul gandhi as the major factor behind the congress party's success. Well i guess there were innumberable reasons behind the success but as is very well said that success has many fathers and failure is an orphan , people are attributing all kinds of things to Rahul Gandhi. I am not sure about the extent of the Rahul factor as i believe it is still early days. The congress won in many seats because of flagship programmes of the UPA goevernment such as NREGA and the waiving of the farm loan. What Rahul Gandhi did was to primarily motivate his cadres out there and instill a sense of self belief. On the top of that by touring the entire state and reaching out to the young and destitute he came across as a person who was honest, sincere and hardworking. Now since the congress has got a such a tremendous support from the people of the state its imperative on their part to fulfill their promises and transform the state and bring it within the realms of prosperity.

Verdict 2009

The elections held this year threw a huge pleasant surprise with the decisive victory given to the congress led UPA government. People expected the UPA to win or at least to be the biggest alliance but the margin of victory was expected to be narrow.The people of this great nation though had other things in their mind. They voted for a party which was seen to be fighting on the plank of development and inclusive governance which could fulfill the aspirations of one and all. It was the able troika of prime minister Manmohan singh who is considered to be a very decent and capable man, Sonia Gandhi who is seen as a powerful lady who is not hungry for power and Rahul Gandhi her son who is seen as a leader who promises a lot and can be seen as a person who can actualy feel the pulse of the youth. the opposition was unfortunately stuck with a negative campaign instead of campaigning on a positive plank. The results are there for everyone to see. Apart from the stupendous show in the centre another significant victory was that of the NDA in Bihar, a state which had seen development after years of neglect by Laloo. The people conveyed the message very clearly , perform or perish.

The Maya Stupa's

When i was a kid i had heard of stupa's which are a mount like structures containing relics of Buddhist saints. Nowadays madam Mayawati has decided to built stupa's to honour her greatness.Now that's what we call a megalomaniac. Wherever one goes in the state of UP one can find statues being built ,either dedicated to her or the late kanshi ram or Dr B R Ambedkar.There is no problem if a few statues are built and dedicated to the latter two leaders.The problem arises when thousands of crores of the exchequer money is being spent on such frivolous exercises in the name of empowerment of the dalits. It simply does not make any sense in a poor state like UP where the majority of the people have hand to mouth existence. The dalit community itself also would not be empowered in any way either. Had she built an educational institute for the dalits or some hospital in the memory of the late two leaders she would have gained widespread popularity among the denizens of her state. But she has other whims which has simply pissed off the citizens and has made them wonder whether its worth to pay taxes on their hard earned money. The sooner Mayawati realises this the better it is.