What’s the difference between being a political manager, formulating strategy for elections in the backroom, and being the candidate and the face of a campaign? Union Minister Bhupender Yadav, the BJP’s candidate from Alwar, fighting his first Lok Sabha election, is discovering the nuances of his position, a difference he describes as one between “a programme and a festival”. Being …
“Have you seen the Bharat-Pakistan match?” asks Baba Balak Nath, the BJP candidate for the Tijara seat in the upcoming Rajasthan Assembly election, addressing a small gathering at the village temple in Bubkhera. The battle lines are laid down clearly in the “us versus them” metric, and the binary that Mr. Nath drew in his election pitch is as old …
