Uttam Ghosh offers his take on Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Ajay Mohan Bisht's controversial statement where he proclaimed that before 2017 only those saying 'abba jaan' were getting rations in the state.
Has Ajay Mohan Bisht, the ruler of UP, fallen out of favour with Narendra Damodardas Modi, the emperor of India?
'It is a fight for principles for him, where he shall be presenting his protest to the wrongdoings.'
A week from now, October 20, Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi will host Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh.
Dominic Xavier wonders if such cruel and heinous crimes against women will ever end in Uttar Pradesh.
Dominic Xavier remembers the Hathras victim and hopes that the perpetrators of the gang-rape and murder are punished with the most stringest punishment available under Indian law.
Just where are the stars travelling? We tell you.
Dominic Xavier wonders why the Bisht government in UP is so terrified of democratic protest that it has to resort to draconian measures at every turn.
For months, there has been talk that Narendra Damodardas Modi and Ajay Mohan Bisht, aka Yogi Adityanath, don't get along.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan felicitates Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi.
'There is a famous saying here that 'the way to Delhi passes through Lucknow'.' 'If the BJP loses UP in 2022, Modi's premiership in 2024 will be in doldrums.'
'In politics, not everything is spoken and there are a lot of messaging done very discreetly.'
With about 18 weeks to go for the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, the state is being barnstormed by one notable politician after another.
For the first 90 days of 2021, from January 5 onwards, one Union minister will visit one district in Tamil Nadu every week till the assembly election.
If her mother anoints her as the Congress's chief ministerial candidate for the UP assembly election, it could be Game On! in Lucknow.
'If there is any possibility, then the BJP has to accept our conditions. There should be caste census in the country, the report of the social justice committee should be implemented, the CM should be from backward caste and also the poor must be provided a uniform, mandatory and free education as well as free medical treatment.'
'If Yogiji has to run this government without any problems, he has to remain in power, and if he has to keep the BJP bosses in Delhi and the RSS happy, then he has no option but to do it.'
Though the run-up to the poll saw a high pitched campaign by the parties, the turnout of the voters on December 1 was an unimpressive 46.55 per cent (34.50 lakh) out of the total 74.67 lakh voters.
Mr Modi and Mr Shah will need him if they want to win UP again in 2022 and India in 2024. This signals a Yogi Adityanath-sized change in BJP politics, even under Mr Modi, Shekhar Gupta.
'There is a sense within the government and Modi that things are not as good as they were in 2019.'
'I was feeling so suffocated under Yogiji's rule.'
Can Jitin Prasada retain the BJP's Brahmin vote in UP?
'The central BJP has worked out an arrangement -- Yogi manages the state while Modi manages the Centre.'
'Today in Uttar Pradesh all big parties like Samajwadi Party, BJP or even Bahujan Samaj Party are out to woo smaller parties as they know the Hindu votes are getting divided.'
If the BJP is set to return to power in UP, Uttarakhand, Manipur and even Goa, it is not because of the party's performance or the quality of governance. No. It is essentially Modi's popularity, observes Virendra Kapoor.
Sacking Ajay Mishra would further antagonise Brahmins in UP already upset with Yogi's government.
I believe that UP has been doing this consistently -- of grossly under-reporting the Covid-positive cases. Nothing else explains the glaring differences in UP's positivity rates versus other badly affected states, says Omkar Goswami.
'Both Modi and Yogi are contesting this election together.' 'Both bring their individual strengths to BJP in UP.'
'Modi's charisma and appeal is unparalleled.' 'Yogi has his own appeal and people connect.' 'He is seen as trustworthy, hardworking and honest.' 'People feel that these qualities are both common to Yogi and Modi.'
'Yogi Adityanath is working for one caste only and suppressing the others,' Bihar Minister and NDA ally Mukesh Sahni tells M I Khan.
Journalist Prashant Kanojia was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh police on August 18 for a retweet and has been in custody ever since.
'The people of Uttar Pradesh have already made up their mind to puncture the Samajwadi Party's cycle, kick away the Bahujan Samaj Party's elephant, and remove shadows of the already-vanished hand of the Congress.'
With the BJP continuing to be the constant combatant, centrifugal pressures will rise. Fractured relations between the Centre and the states as between BJP and non-BJP ruled states is a sizeable risk owing ahead, warns Shekhar Gupta.
If the Congress recovers some of its earlier influence among the Dalits, the BJP will be in a quandary since the Dalits were among the party's latest acquisitions. To lose them will be a disaster for the saffron camp not only in UP, but all over India, observes Amulya Ganguli.
'Whom do I want to marry and what decisions I make for marrying the person I love are totally personal decisions, in which neither the State nor the courts have any right to interfere.'
'People are questioning these highways and expressways in UP because ultimately, they want to get bread and butter first.'
The Bengal outcome can have a marginal impact on national politics. Whereas elections in UP next year might still change the course ahead of the parliamentary poll in 2024, observes Virendra Kapoor.
Cities, roads, stations rechristened in the time of Modi.
The outcome in UP is far more significant than in the other states going to the polls next year. An unlikely setback in UP can cramp the Modi government, virtually making it a lame-duck two years ahead of the 2024 parliamentary poll, observes Virendra Kapoor.
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