Union minister and BJP Member of Parliament from Muzaffarnagar in western UP, Sanjeev Balyan, who belongs to the Jat community, had once said that “Uttar Pradesh mein chunav ki hawa pashchim se chalti hai”.
Literally, it means political winds in UP blow from the west. But what the minister actually meant was that western UP sets the voting trend and the rest of the state follows it. This was said at a time when western UP overwhelmingly voted for the BJP.
But since western UP became the epicentre of the year-long protest against the three farm laws, winds blowing from western UP in the current elections seem to have the potential of spoiling the ruling party’s prospects.
The BJP was, therefore, reportedly keen on the Election Commission reversing the traditional polling pattern and getting western UP to vote in the last phase.
It wanted the polling to begin from east. But the poll panel went by its own logistical calculations and roadmap and once again put western UP in phase one.
The Opposition is gleefully asking the BJP if the trend set by western UP would continue in remaining phases.
Poll panel ban on campaign rallies ruins chopper charter business
The Election Commission’s decision to ban public meetings has hit the air charter companies hard. Chartering of helicopters and small aircraft during election is one of the key sources of revenues for these charter companies.
With large states like Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, and the hilly Uttarakhand going to elections, air charter companies were expecting a business of not less than Rs 200-250 crore.
India has about 150 helicopters, owned by companies and individuals. The hourly rent for these choppers varies from Rs 1.6 lakh-1.75 lakh for single engine to Rs 3 lakh-4.25 lakh for twin-engine choppers.
Industry sources say that in the current round of election not less than 25 choppers would have been engaged by political parties for a duration of two months.
The air charter industry is monitoring the Election Commission’s announcements more closely than the newspaper reporters covering the Commission.
CEPA with UAE breaks free trade jinx, first major pact in a decade
India has broken a jinx by signing the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
This is the first major free trade agreement signed by India in the last one decade. The Modi government has had protracted negotiations with the US, Australia, Canada, United Kingdom and European Union but has failed to conclude free trade agreements with any of them due to domestic pressure from farm and dairy industry.
When the then US President Donald Trump’s trade representative Robert Lighthizer was negotiating for India allowing dairy exports from the US, Amul chief shot off a letter to the PM saying Indian dairy sector would be destroyed if India agreed with Lighthizer.
India even rejected the US demand to at least allow it to export pizza cheese. EU, Australia and the UK, too, want Indian farm and dairy, besides liquor, fisheries and auto sectors opened.
In spite of repeated announcement that India was close to signing free trade pacts, the commerce minister remains stuck between competing demands of engaging powerful foreign allies on one hand, and keeping domestic farm, fisheries, dairy and liquor industry happy on the other.