Akhilesh-Jayant-Tejashwi rise should worry Narendra Modi; trio may take UP, Bihar away from BJP
The BJP and the media are so focused on Rahul Gandhi that they have failed to spot a bigger danger lurking ahead of Narendra Modi in 2019: the rise of a trio of young, politically savvy regional leaders who are driving the opposition charge in the politically crucial states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar with innovation and skill that master strategist Amit Shah would surely envy.
File image of Jayant Chaudhary, Tejashwi Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav. PTI/Facebook@JayantRLD
The just concluded by-elections mark the emergence of Akhilesh Yadav, Jayant Chaudhary, and Tejashwi Yadav as leaders in their own right. Dynasts though they are, they come without the baggage of their fathers and have flummoxed the BJP by changing the dynamics of politics in the Hindi heartland with an opposition alliance that no one ever thought would materialise.
Youth power is a formidable force in a polity dominated by young voters. In Gujarat, another trio of youngsters — Hardik Patel, Alpesh Thakore and Jignesh Mevani — gave Modi and Shah sleepless nights as they powered Rahul Gandhi’s campaign in the 2017 Assembly elections. They would have snatched Modi’s home state from under his nose but for a last-minute high-voltage emotive campaign by the prime minister which saved the day for the BJP.
