Voter Education
The UP election results are out...finally. It was a bit of an anti-climax for many because one party got an absolute majority. Which meant there would be no continued uncertainty, no horse-trading, no “I’ll give you MLA's in the Assembly and you give me MP's at the Center” exchange offers, no more endless yapping in the TV studios. Now it’s confirmed that Rahul baba is not a vote winner. No surprise in that unless you were a Congress sycophant. What I did find surprising was a remark that Sonia made after the results, “Probably high inflation had a role in how the Congress did in UP”. So why does that remark surprise me? Because it implies that voters understand that the Center is responsible for inflation, not the state government. Which I find very impressive since it indicates a pretty good understanding of the power and roles of state and central governments! The paradox, though, is that the same “smart” voters don't understand even a wee bit of finance: how else can...