Welcome to The Political Fix by Rohan Venkataramakrishnan, a newsletter on Indian politics and policy. To get it in your inbox every week,...
Welcome to The Political Fix by Rohan Venkataramakrishnan, a newsletter on Indian politics and policy. To get it in your inbox every week, sign up here.
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The Big Story: Thumb on scale
Over the next two months, political coverage everywhere in India – including on this newsletter – will be preoccupied with the upcoming elections, in Puducherry, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Assam and West Bengal. In news stories, the nationally dominant Bharatiya Janata Party will most likely be treated as the challenger that it is in each of these states (barring Assam where it is the incumbent0.
Much of the analysis will assume a level playing field, in which the BJP is simply competing to put forward a more compelling narrative and haul in more votes than, say, the Trinamool Congress or the Left parties. Election coverage tends to portray all players as if they are competing in a horse race: starting at the same line, on an even footing and preparing to run equal distances.
While this straight-forward coverage might seem fair, it isn’t.
The starting line is often skewed and the tracks rarely run...
