Hot water

Virtually addressing booth-level Bharatiya Janata Party workers in Bihar, the prime minister, Narendra Modi, expressed concern about the rising temperatures and advised them to ask for a glass of water whenever they visit any household while campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections. Modi emphasised the need to keep oneself hydrated amidst this scorching summer heat. The party workers initially went gaga about the PM’s seemingly caring message. However, their jubilation subsided when they began to decode the PM’s message more objectively.

Some of them wondered about the need for a seven-phase election in the state when three or four phases would have sufficed. Others opined that the polls should have been held in March when the weather is pleasant in almost all the states. “We don’t know whether the idea to hold elections in peak summer was of the PM or the Election Commission of India, or that they are being held just because the tenure of the current LS is ending in May. Had the PM really cared about the well-being of the voters this summer, he could have ensured [that the] general elections [were held] in March. There is a possibility of a large number of voters and government employees falling ill and many losing their lives in the heat wave across the country during the polls,” a senior party leader shared. It is time for the government and the ECI to gulp down this bitter pill.

Caste politics

While countering the Opposition’s demand for a nationwide caste-based census, Narendra Modi had proclaimed that the four biggest castes for him are women, youth, farmers and poor. Nevertheless, the spectre of caste has been haunting a BJP nominee in the general election and that too in Modi’s home state, Gujarat. Parshottam Rupala, the Union minister for animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries, is facing a massive backlash from the Kshatriya/Rajput community in Rajkot, the LS constituency from which he is contesting. Rupala, while canvassing for support among Dalits, contrasted their steadfastness with the compromises made by the erstwhile maharajas or Kshatriya kings. Rupala reportedly asserted that the maharajas broke bread with the British and also married off their daughters to them while the Dalits never established
such ties.

As soon as the video of Rupala’s speech went viral, widespread protests by the Kshatriya community broke out and have been only intensifying since then. Repeated apologies from Rupala and efforts by the party leaders to cool frayed nerves have not yielded any result. The unrelenting Kshatriyas have now demanded that Rupala, a member of the Patidar community, be withdrawn as the BJP candidate from Rajkot. The Kshatriyas have also threatened to launch a countrywide agitation if this demand
is not met.

Fresh firing

The Aam Aadmi Party seems to have got more ammunition for its charge of partisanship against the ECI. The AAP recently alleged that the ECI used abusive words while denying the party permission to conduct two public meetings in Kurukshetra. Thereafter, five computer operators were suspended by the poll officer in Kaithal. The AAP has said that the ECI ignores complaints against the Delhi Police and the BJP but shows alacrity when it comes to taking action against other parties.

Help at hand

The Congress leader, Shashi Tharoor, has received a shot in the arm before the polls. G Sukumaran Nair, the general-secretary of the Nair Service Society, who had called Tharoor a “Delhi Nair” to convey that he’s not an original Nair from Kerala, has now described Tharoor as a “real Nair”. This means much for Tharoor who is locked in a stiff battle with the BJP’s Rajeev Chandrasekhar, also a Nair, in Thiruvananthapuram.