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The younger unmarried Road Romeo succeeded whereas the older and married Road Romeo failed. Yes, in Karnataka. If the election process is wooing the electorate, compared to that of wooing a bride in a swayamvara; the star campaigners of the major contesting parties are Romeos. The road shows are conducted to show that they are close to the people, they try to show they are closer to the people by throwing garlands at the public, albeit with barricades along the road traveling in a flickering moving vehicle bedecked with flowers! I will come later on the difference of two kinds of road shows, the one road show that Mr. Rahul Gandhi did some days back and the one that the PM did in Karnataka during election campaigning. The former one was not of a show as such, it was a sort of march, a yatra; the one PM Modi did was in fact a show, a show of vainglory and pomposity. I personally believe Mr. Modi should not have engaged himself in the electioneering in Karnataka, leading a bunch of buffoons who are involved in all sorts of corruption in the state. Why? Because a defeat of BJP which was almost written on the wall would leave a dent on his popularity and to the “I-can-win-it-for-you” image, come what may! Many so-called political pundits discounted Rahul’s yatra as a political tool. I will not say anything on that account because the election results show who were at fault on the efficacy of yatra as a political tool for electioneering! The Congress party did it in style and in time to percolate to the people who matter, the electorate.
Typically, in India, cutting across the purposes for which yatras have been undertaken, they have always been successful. The unique Gandhian tool has always been a winning one. From the classic Dandi-yatra to Bharat-Jodo yatra and the very many yatras that the Indian socio-political history is witness to with milestone yatras of Vabhe’s Bhoodan movement and Advani’s Ram Rath.
This is not to politically analyze the results of Karnataka elections. There are many qualified people and many self-proclaimed analysts and a bunch of psephologists who do it either as passion or vocation or for both. This is only an attempt to show that mass action like yatras or marches do still have a major role to play in a run-up to an electioneering. It is altogether different game as to how the party or person who reaps a harvest out of the yatras translates the mandate to fruitful, beneficial governance and remains so engaged till the next hustings.
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