Congress: Losing charm, Not emerging as an option in UP

The Congress Party is not coming into view as an option in UP! Party leaders have great hopes that the party base is getting stronger under Priyanka Gandhi's command but the truth remains that due to Priyanka, Congress is getting media coverage but the strength of Congress is not visible on ground. 

The UP assembly elections will be held in a year and half and the rate at which Congress leaders are leaving and joining other parties shows little hope for Congress.  

According to reliable sources, the state committee formed by Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi is displeased with many leaders. It certainly is difficult for the congress leaders to stay in the party after the Party loses elections and is out of power. It is being said that after losing two consecutive elections, it was difficult for a leader of stature like Annu Tandon to remain in the party.  

Congress is believed to announce Priyanka Gandhi’s name as the face of Chief Minister in 2022 on the occasion of Congress's foundation day in December next month. The one and a half year time may help them build favourable atmosphere.

A senior Congress leader and former Union Minister hinted that despite Priyanka Gandhi working hard and creating an atmosphere in the media, if Congress does not fight in any one of the seven seats in by election, the bubble will burst and harm Party’s image in public.

- Aditi Jain

Is Mayawati the weekest link in UP?

After the results of the 7 seats of UP, one thing has been decided that Mayawati has seen the biggest low in her political career in UP.
Compared to other parties, BSP has been very disappointing in the by-election.
Mayawati has been going through the bad days of politics since 2012. The party has also fallen behind in the election results. Bahanji’s power dynamics seem to have shifted and it would be interesting to see how she plans to fight the battle of 2022.

Mayawati, the BSP supremo, has been the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh for four times. The BSP has reached power with Dalit politics and had a golden period in Uttar Pradesh when its government ran with a majority from 2007 to 2012.

During this period, Mayawati executed all her projects like Ambedkar Park and Smriti Sthal Ambedkar Maidan in Lucknow, and similar constructions in Noida.

BSP failed to open the account in 2014 and finished third in 2017. In 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Mayawati took a chance as she shook hands with Samajwadi Party, forgetting the 24 years old hostilities between both the parties but the results were not favourable. 
Now the 7-seat by-election in 2020 is considered to be the trend of 2022, which seems to be disappointing for the BSP.
Moreover, in the past decade, the party's big leaders have left BSP and are still leaving. There was a time when Team 11, which was her troubleshooter, left Mayawati and after the departure of these second-order leaders, BSP seems to be getting weaker.
These 11 Commanders were -
Babu Singh Kushwaha, Swami Prasad Maurya, Naseemuddin Siddiqui, Brijesh Pathak, Jugal Kishore,  Dadu Prasad, KK Gautam, R K Chaudhary, Ram Achal Rajbhar, Tribhuvan and Ramveer Upadhyay. 
Former BSP minister Dadu Prasad says that the party and Mayawati have moved away from the idea and are working in the direction of BJP.
Journalist Rajendra Gautam, who has seen the BSP very closely, says that BSP is a synonym to Behanji and giving your opinion can be fatal in the party.

In such a scenario, it would be rather interesting to see what Mayawati plans for 2022.
- Aditi

Book Review - "My Feudal Lord"

Name of Book: My Feudal Lord

Author: Tehmina Durrani 

Genre: Autobiography

Language: English 

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All around the world, women face sexism. If we talk about the Indian subcontinent, the widespread and (accepted) chauvinism makes it worse for women to survive. Career, ambitions etc are still secondary to thousands of women battling domestic violence and abuse.

"My Feudal Lord" came out in 1991 where Durrani bravely writes about the choices she made in her life and their not so pleasant outcome.

Durrani divorced her husband and married Mustafa Khar, one of Pakistan's most eminent political figures hailed as the subcontinent's most celebrated Casanova. But her choice didn't go well as her marriage  soon turned into a nightmare. Mustafa Khar proved to be an extremely possessive, violent and jealous man who cut her off from the outside world. 

Tehmina was a  prisoner in this relationship for almost fourteen years and then she decided to discard the cage and rebel.

It wasn't easy for her to seek divorce from him. She lost all financial support and the custody of her children. Even her parents disowned her and friends left her alone too.

The repressive, partial society suppresses the weaker section's voice and women since always have been taught to be ‘ethnically mute’.

Tehmina divorced her first husband to marry Mustafa, dreaming about a fairytale which unfortunately turned into her worst nightmare.

Overall a good book about women's condition in a superficial society. Has vivid description of the brutality she underwent (alert if you are sensitive to such things). 

One should read this one.