How international issues dominate UP polls narrative

The high-octane Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections which are being held in seven phases is an important state for all the parties to move forward, especially the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) to have a grip over the number game in the assembly.

All the parties have been putting their best foot forward to woo the voters and create an alternative to the ruling BJP. The results in the state would be a decider for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections 2024.

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The state has been seeing four main parties coming face-to-face for the battle which involves the ruling BJP, the Samajwadi Party (SP), the Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP), and the Congress. The current Chief Minister has however confidently announced in rallies that the BJP will emerge as a true winner, although SP’s Akhilesh Yadav has given him serious competition with his alliance of small parties that have a hold over the minority votes.

From farmers’ issues, Hindutva, inflation, caste-based politics, to the menace of stray cattle the political leaders have covered almost everything in their speeches. Now, the ongoing ‘Operation Ganga’ where thousands of Indians stranded in Ukraine are being evacuated due to the Russian invasion, came under criticism by the Opposition saying that it showed the BJP’s poor performance.

However, amid complaints of mistreatment of stranded Indian students in Ukraine and racism by its border guards, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a rally, said that the evacuation of the Indians from the war-torn nation was an indication of the 'rising' power of the country in the world. He also mentioned that his government was ‘correcting the mistakes of the past governments’.

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''The evacuation of the Indians from Ukraine shows the rising power of the country in the world,'' the Prime Minister said, adding that the government had sent four ministers and deployed IAF to help bring the stranded countrymen.

Amid changing scenarios in the state, it would be interesting to see if Yogi Adityanath would be voted back to power where no Chief Minister has been given a second consecutive term in the last 37 years.

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