Varanasi: Battle of the road shows

On a day when 49 constituencies went to the polls in the sixth phase of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election, two separate road shows made their way along the streets of Varanasi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi set off first, through the lanes of his Lok Sabha constituency here amid a huge crowd of supporters.

The Samajwadi Party objected to the PM’s road show, saying that the BJP—unlike the alliance—had not sought the requisite permission from authorities. The BJP retorted that it was not a road show but a ‘jan darshan’.

But the BJP seemed to be contradicting itself.

Soon after the PM’s road show ended, the SP-Congress alliance road show began, headlined by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi. Halfway through, Kannauj MP Dimple Yadav also joined the SP-Congress roadshow; the first time she has campaigned alongside both Akhilesh Yadav and Rahul Gandhi in these elections.

Though the people of Varanasi—at least those who weren’t troubled by the completely jammed lanes—enjoyed the entertainment, there was also acrimony and competitiveness between party supporters.

Samajwadi party supporters lining the rooftops along the PM’s cavalcade waved their party flags at him as he passed by. A video report of their flag-waving by ABP News can be seen here.

Then came reports of clashes and possible further clashes between BJP and alliance workers.

With all parties making crowd size a prestige issue, comparisons between the turnout at each road show were inevitable.

But in the battle of the Varanasi road shows, it looks like PM Modi may just want to have the last word. Even while the SP-Congress road show was still on came this announcement:

That would make it a back-to-back ‘jan darshans’ plus road show on consecutive days by the Prime Minister in the same few constituencies for an assembly election.

While all the attention on Saturday was on Varanasi, BSP chief Mayawati too addressed a public rally at Rohaniya, around 20 km away.

The State Chief Electoral Officer T Venkatesh reported a turnout of 57.03% in the sixth phase of UP Assembly polls, with voting passing off by and large peacefully.