India's poor are with Modi: Rajdeep Sardesai, Anjana Om Kashyap explain UP landslide

As the results of the Assembly elections 2017, particularly Uttar Pradesh, poured in on March 11, one thing became very clear. Not only was there a Modi wave, it was back to 2014 and the return of the TsuNaMo, as it were, in UP. What went behind the score 325/403 in the UP Assembly, the biggest state assembly in India?

As journalists who covered UP, many got it wrong, many were deluded into thinking there was “Bhaiya-mania”, many reported from Gomti river front and wagered on the cycle symbol. While some, such India Today consulting editor Rajdeep Sardesai and Aaj Tak’s senior anchor Anjana Om Kashyap, stuck their necks out and put their bets on Narendra Modi.

In the end, their journalism was vindicated. Both of them discuss with Saurabh Dwivedi, the editor of The Lallantop, the firebrand Hindi portal from India Today Group Digital and DailyO’s sister publication, the implications, the causes and the impact of UP Assembly elections 2017.

There are a number of reasons, some guessed beforehand, some seen clearly in hindsight, that led to Modi wave 2.0 in Uttar Pradesh, and also in Uttarakhand. UP particularly was the big ticket election that was being seen as the portal to Lok Sabha 2019.

Many including former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah have read into UP 2017 results the victories written in stone for not just 2019, but perhaps also 2024, for Narendra Modi.

So what went on? Here’s what Rajdeep and Anjana told Saurabh. We have also embedded the video of the highly entertaining and lively discussion, free and frank and without much jargon.

We need to remind the readers that both Rajdeep and Anjana had travelled extensively across the length and breadth of UP during the campaigns and reported from the ground stories that were unseen and unheard in most television and news channels.

#TsuNaMo: We caught up with this informal chit chat between @sardesairajdeep and @anjanaomkashyap. pic.twitter.com/J2IEXBdN9z

— India Today (@IndiaToday) March 11, 2017

The key points that they discussed are as follows:

Firstly, Dwivedi started off by asking why journalists are vitiated on social media and otherwise for their perceived political inclination and not for what they actually cover, ask or speak on television or Twitter. Both Sardesai and Kashyap have been targeted for their facial gestures, when they happen to be two of the most neutral TV anchors in India at present.

To answer this question, Sardesai said the only party he belongs to is his kids’ birthday parties! Anjana kept smiling, as usual.

Secondly, Rajdeep Sardesai, who had begun his career in journalism cover the 1989 Mandal agitation under VP Singh government, said how in the smallest of UP villages, schemes such as the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, that provided subsidised LBG cylinders to the below poverty line women, were an immense success, and paved the way for Modi’s popularity.

There were toilets in many houses, first time toilets, and villages were cleaner relatively. Moreover, even demonetisation, that sucked out 86 per cent of cash from the country, somehow failed to alienate the poor because they felt a part of a moral crusade against corruption, as per the narrative engineered by Modi.

Thirdly, Sardesai mentioned that even in his column in the daily Hindustan Times, he had predicted a BJP win in UP. He had ascribed the victory to Modi’s emotional connect with the people in UP, the schemes that had actually made an impact, and the moral fabric of a new aspirational India.

But Sardesai also credited Saurabh Dwivedi who had travelled extensively in UP and spoke to thousands of people while covering the election campaigns. Both seemed to agree that notebandi, despite its economic havoc, had not dented Modi’s image in the heartlands. If anything, the “bold move” had only increased the PM’s stature.

Sardesai noted that India’s poor are with Modi, and no one can defeat you in elections if the unnamed masses are with you. He also rebuked Lutyens’ journalists from New Delhi, who were calling the elections from their news studios, or only travelling with the ministers and leaders, such as Akhilesh Yadav, Amit Shah, even Modi himself.

Sardesai said real journalism happens away from TV cameras and credited Saurabh Dwivedi for doing exactly that, who covered 11,300 kilometres and went to every assembly constituency to speak to the common man and woman of Uttar Pradesh.

Fourthly, even during Anjana Om Kashyap’s show Raj Tilak on Aaj Tak, she could sense that Akhilesh Yadav’s rallying cry “kaam bolta hai” (work speaks for itself) was not getting enough response from people, though Akhilesh was certainly well liked. She compared it with the “feel good” campaign that backfired in 2014.

Fifthly, Kashyap could sense that polarisation was a huge factor, but religion wasn’t the only reason why it happened on a large scale. It was also about a new India that wanted to dream big and Modi could be seen as the man to do it. Big issues such as surgical strike, demonetisation were embraced as bold moves by the prime minister, who wasn’t afraid of reform. The poor and the masses firmly stood behind Modi.

Sixthly, in Rae Bareli and Amethi, the villages were in shambles and decades of Congress parliamentary representation by the Gandhi family members had not made any significant difference to the assembly constituencies. Kashyap mentioned that the AIIMS in Amethi was just a big ghost of an empty building and these regions didn’t even have a decent hotel to house women journalists. She compared that with the plight of the ordinary women in these parts of UP and found utter disenchantment with both SP and BSP leaders

Finally, Kashyap admitted that while Gomti river front indeed looked very pretty and was comparable with Varanasi, there were slums in other parts of Lucknow and outside of the UP capital that were in abject conditions. No wonder then that the poor of UP rallied behind Narendra Modi, who promised to change the face of Uttar Pradesh.

Also read:

Yes, I was wrong about BJP not winning Uttar Pradesh elections

What PM Modi and politician Modi will do after Uttar Pradesh election victory

Modi sarkar's gearshift point: How UP Assembly election win changes Indian polity