After filing his Lok Sabha Nomination in Varanasi on April 14 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “Neither have I been sent, nor have I arrived. I’m here because Maa Ganga called me.”
The holy city of Varanasi, which is believed to bring salvation, is one of the most colourful and fascinating places in North India.
Varanasi holds importance in politics for being the Lok Sabha constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
To assess the political mood of people in Varanasi, The Quint spoke to Vikram, a member of a Scheduled Caste community. The community, who have been traditionally considered outcasts, burn around 25-30 corpses a day.
In the final phase of elections to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, over 1.41 crores voters spread across 40 constituencies will decide the fate of 535 candidates.
The clash of the titans has got star billing in Varanasi on 4 March, as prime minister Narendra Modi and his chief opponents, Akhilesh Yadav and Rahul Gandhi, promise to bring this ancient city to a halt with their respective roadshows. But 24-hours is a long time in this holy city. Nothing like a walk along the ghats in the early morning or when the sun sets to allow you to enter the illusion that the city is teetering on the edge of the river. The call of the boatman dispels the moment. “Boat ride, madam?”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi kicked off his roadshow in his parliamentary constituency of Varanasi on 4 March. Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah and other senior leaders greeted PM Modi when he arrived at the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) in a special Indian Air Force chopper. After a brief interaction with the leaders, PM Modi left the campus for a guest house. BJP supporters lined up along the routes, cheering as PM Modi’s cavalcade passed them by. At the rally in Jaunpur, Modi criticised the political parties that questioned the surgical strikes.
In a clash of rallies at Varanasi, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi tried to woo the people of his constituency before it goes to polls in the last phase, Akhilesh-Rahul duo left no stone unturned and managed to put up a brilliant electoral show indeed. Even as everyone guesses, which way the wave will turn in Uttar Pradesh in 2017, the mega rallies by the BJP and SP-Congress alliance was a curtain-raiser for the 2019 general elections.
