Welcome to The Political Fix by Rohan Venkataramakrishnan, a newsletter on Indian politics and policy. To get it in your inbox every week,...
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The Big Story: Disposable
One of the political phenomena of the Narendra Modi era that we have followed closely on this newsletter is the apparent weakness of the Bharatiya Janata Party at the state level. Despite the party’s utter dominance at the national level, with Prime Minister Modi being by far the country’s most popular politician, the BJP has struggled to retain power in several states.
This trend has been amplified when the incumbent in state assembly elections has been a Modi-era chief minister, generally characterised as one without a mass base, frequently picked from a caste grouping that goes counter to prevailing political trends (a non-Jat in Haryana, a non-tribal in Jharkhand) and whose main claim to fame is a demonstrated loyalty to the prime minister.
Think of Manohar Lal Khattar in Haryana, who had to ally with a smaller party to remain in power...
