Key Points
Prime Minister NarendraModi has not bothered togo to WestBengal for the pastthreeyears; he visited in 2021fortheassemblyelection, in which the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) won 77 seats and became the Opposition in the state...
Suddenly, withthe Lok Sabhaelections ahead, Modi hastravelled therenot onceortwice butthreetimes in a fortnight, making promises galore.The grim reality is that 59 lakh NREGA workers in West Bengal haventreceived theirwages and 11.36 lakh people dont have homes because the Modi government has not allocated funds to the state for central schemes.But, oh well, never mind, its election season and theElection Mantriwill promiseall those things thathe will never do asthePradhan Mantri...
You knowitselection season when theElection Mantrisorry,Pradhan Mantrisuddenlystarts visitingsouth Indian statessuch asKerala and Tamil Nadu and makes speeches on the vibrant culture and achievements of the south...
You know its election season when a whisper campaign starts about an exciting public address from Modi, andnews channelsplunge into breathless 24X7 coverage for hours, only to get, at the end of it, a tweet fromtheElection Mantricongratulating theDefence Research and Development Organisation(DRDO)...
It doesnt matter if safety standards in railways are plummeting (a fatal collision in Andhra Pradesh, which killed 14 people, occurred because the drivers werewatching cricketon their phones), or how many government posts are vacant, or that a staggering 42 per cent of those aged between 20 and 25 are unemployed, or that Indians are now the third-largest population of illegal migrants to the US, as long as theElection Mantricreates spectacle after spectacle at election time...
