Hopefully, the Supreme Court verdict on the Army Chief’s date of birth ends an avoidable and unfortunate controversy that raged for nearly a year. The apex court has provided sugar-coated bitter pills for all stakeholders to swallow, with or without water. Depending on how one views it, the verdict is a “win-win” or “lose-lose” situation for all.
Gen. V.K. Singh is a man of integrity and honour. No one has questioned this, although he felt his honour and dignity were at stake. There is irrefutable evidence to support his claim about his age. Yet he became a victim of circumstances, some of his own making and some of others’. He failed to get the mistake in this regard rectified in time.
After the peaceful second phase of polling in Uttar Pradesh, and as we near the climax of the election campaign, I see the Samajwadi Party (SP) sprinting ahead and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) losing ground. However, the BSP is still way ahead of the Congress, with the BJP trailing as a distant fourth.
I do not know whether the Batla House encounter controversy and the Muslim quota issue raised by Salman Khurshid will have any impact on the poll trends, but I don’t think the Congress will jeopardise its upper caste votes for minority gains. The Congress and the BJP dominate the upper caste votes and even a slight shift can cause a major upset.
