Gujarat Assembly election 2017: The Paradoxes of populism

When his general Tanaji died in the battle for Singhdurg, Shivaji said 'Gadh aala pan singh gela' (We won the fort but the lion is dead). BJP has won Gujarat, but lost its lion, the moral high ground

The Gujarat election results are out and we know that the Bharatiya Janata Party, led by its miracle man, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is goung to form a government in the state – for a sixth straight term. But even its sympathisers concede that it has lost its moral high ground. Mrinal Pande looks at the election results and analyses what it means for the BJP and what the Congress should do to use the denting of its adversary’s armour to its advantage.

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A week before the usually reliable and highly placed sources from the English media began reporting that