On Sunday, the Samajwadi Party(SP)-Bahujan Samaj Party(BSP)-Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) alliance in Uttar Pradesh (UP) held its first rally in Saharanpur’s Deoband. More substantively though, in terms of messaging, the rally, as expected, was marked by a rather robust critique of the Narendra Modi government. Identity matters in electoral politics. But parties often use identity to divert the electorate from the real issues of livelihood, economy, governance, and escape the responsibility of providing a vision for the future. Let voters vote as individuals, exercising their judgement on issues, rather than treat their religious identity as the primary driver of political choice.

Source: Hindustan Times April 09, 2019 13:30 UTC