The surprise appointment of Yogi Adityanath as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister post party’s massive victory in the recently concluded assembly elections indicates that BJP/RSS is in mission mode for General Election 2019. The new UP CM will ensure strict saffron legislation, compliance and governance to consolidate Hindutva forces. The eighty seats are vital to BJP’s reelection in the next parliament. PM Narendra Modi is a world-class leader and he is having no parallel leader to challenge his supremacy in the country. In UP, poor Akhilesh and Rahul were just swept aside-not by polarization, not by Hindu consolidation but simply by Modi’s far higher voltage personality.

However, the elections in five states have proved that BJP is not unbeatable. Wherever the opposition has a slightly good leadership to answer back BJP with the capacity to consolidate anti-BJP vote, BJP can be defeated. Though various states have formidable regional leaders, the nation has absolutely none. As long as Rahul Gandhi is the perceived choice for PM against Modi, irrespective of how much he has improved, he comes absolutely nowhere near Modi. Sonia is getting old and keeping a bit unwell to really run around amassing support. It's an absolute Modi wave all the way and that is precisely why UP was given Yogi by RSS forcefully to consolidate this wave in the tsunami for the next General Elections.

UP is a matter of extreme pride for Modi-Shah combine so they avoided Bihar-like risks in UP. Modi’s mega personality and development agenda apart, he made a dig wherein he felt that it was good enough to get a few additional votes through the polarization angle, and he created history. In Yogi they have an equally high voltage man; making him CM of the largest state of India immediately gives him national limelight. Modi-Yogi combine will ensure no opposition and we will possibly see a UP type of wipe out at the national level, that’s the worst thing for democracy. Strong opposition is always a must in any democracy. There is a common saying that absolute power, inevitably corrupts, Indian democracy needs a national leader to stand opposite them for the good of the country.

Politics is a game of lies; one has to pull it off loudly and confidently to make it a serious matter. V.P. Singh did that so effectively against Rajiv Gandhi. AK is the only leader who can generate a nationwide appeal by propagating lies that can create national-level drama. Nitish Kumar despite being a great post-election alliance PM candidate isn’t the person who can aggressively take on Modi-Yogi combine nationwide. Mamta Banerjee is a possible alliance PM candidate, despite her ambition and fiery personality she just can’t speak Hindi an important factor for national campaigning. That leaves us with a depleted Congress. At the national level, they are all but wiped out. Rahul just won’t be able to match up with Modi. However all their leaders agree with a narrative of complete decimation of the Congress party the moment Gandhi's name is not at the top of Congress, that’s the DNA of their party. Rajiv, Sonia and even Rahul had been reluctant politicians. Surely, the Congress party has groomed several outstanding leaders in the past but all of them carry the physiological terror of high command culture, hence all big names lack self-confidence in their own ability to lead the party. Then there is a second option post-Vajpayee era, BJP had kept Varun Gandhi reserved as their Gandhi card in case a Gandhi ever gave them real opposition. Now they find him useless as they have realized to counter a Gandhi you don’t need another Gandhi anymore. They have Modis and Yogis. In the current battles of personalities all over the world, Varun is a bit right-wing and has always an edge - given its potential to generate a lot of votes from the segment that doesn’t understand the logic. Surely, Congress compulsion “Gandhi” must have to catch the imagination of young India, to ignite social media platforms apart from the conventional media to attract a new cadre that is missing in the present Congress leadership. It is just a solution for terminally ill Congress that needs surgery to walk again. Today it is a game, set and match for Narendra Modi in the political battlefield of India.

—Prashant Tewari, Editor-in-Chief

The surprise appointment of Yogi Adityanath as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister post party’s massive victory in the recently concluded assembly elections indicates that BJP/RSS is in mission mode for General Election 2019. The new UP CM will ensure strict saffron legislation, compliance and governance to consolidate Hindutva forces. The eighty seats are vital to BJP’s reelection in the next parliament. PM Narendra Modi is a world-class leader and he is having no parallel leader to challenge his supremacy in the country. In UP, poor Akhilesh and Rahul were just swept aside-not by polarization, not by Hindu consolidation but simply by Modi’s far higher voltage personality.

However, the elections in five states have proved that BJP is not unbeatable. Wherever the opposition has a slightly good leadership to answer back BJP with the capacity to consolidate anti-BJP vote, BJP can be defeated. Though various states have formidable regional leaders, the nation has absolutely none. As long as Rahul Gandhi is the perceived choice for PM against Modi, irrespective of how much he has improved, he comes absolutely nowhere near Modi. Sonia is getting old and keeping a bit unwell to really run around amassing support. It's an absolute Modi wave all the way and that is precisely why UP was given Yogi by RSS forcefully to consolidate this wave in the tsunami for the next General Elections.

UP is a matter of extreme pride for Modi-Shah combine so they avoided Bihar-like risks in UP. Modi’s mega personality and development agenda apart, he made a dig wherein he felt that it was good enough to get a few additional votes through the polarization angle, and he created history. In Yogi they have an equally high voltage man; making him CM of the largest state of India immediately gives him national limelight. Modi-Yogi combine will ensure no opposition and we will possibly see a UP type of wipe out at the national level, that’s the worst thing for democracy. Strong opposition is always a must in any democracy. There is a common saying that absolute power, inevitably corrupts, Indian democracy needs a national leader to stand opposite them for the good of the country.

Politics is a game of lies; one has to pull it off loudly and confidently to make it a serious matter. V.P. Singh did that so effectively against Rajiv Gandhi. AK is the only leader who can generate a nationwide appeal by propagating lies that can create national-level drama. Nitish Kumar despite being a great post-election alliance PM candidate isn’t the person who can aggressively take on Modi-Yogi combine nationwide. Mamta Banerjee is a possible alliance PM candidate, despite her ambition and fiery personality she just can’t speak Hindi an important factor for national campaigning. That leaves us with a depleted Congress. At the national level, they are all but wiped out. Rahul just won’t be able to match up with Modi. However all their leaders agree with a narrative of complete decimation of the Congress party the moment Gandhi's name is not at the top of Congress, that’s the DNA of their party. Rajiv, Sonia and even Rahul had been reluctant politicians. Surely, the Congress party has groomed several outstanding leaders in the past but all of them carry the physiological terror of high command culture, hence all big names lack self-confidence in their own ability to lead the party. Then there is a second option post-Vajpayee era, BJP had kept Varun Gandhi reserved as their Gandhi card in case a Gandhi ever gave them real opposition. Now they find him useless as they have realized to counter a Gandhi you don’t need another Gandhi anymore. They have Modis and Yogis. In the current battles of personalities all over the world, Varun is a bit right-wing and has always an edge - given its potential to generate a lot of votes from the segment that doesn’t understand the logic. Surely, Congress compulsion “Gandhi” must have to catch the imagination of young India, to ignite social media platforms apart from the conventional media to attract a new cadre that is missing in the present Congress leadership. It is just a solution for terminally ill Congress that needs surgery to walk again. Today it is a game, set and match for Narendra Modi in the political battlefield of India.

—Prashant Tewari, Editor-in-Chief