Election Results 2017: BJP taps development in UP, no setback from Modi's demonetisation

In a run through several Uttar Pradesh districts before the elections, one was amazed at the clear analysis by the reporters in each town about the way the results could go. Each of them was certain the momentum was certainly with the BJP and demonetisation did not matter with the local people, as an element of discomfort. 

None of these reporters, from Kannuaj to Mirzapur dithered in their analysis of what ailed the state—it was the lack of development. And, they said the people wanted to hear if those would change. 

In fact, the telling sign on the walls of each town or rural areas was the telling absence of any posters advertising for schools, management institutes or nursing institutes. The walls in fact were totally bare in most places, which is such a surprise when you come down from the cluttered signages around NCR, western and southern states. Even Kanpur, the tutorial capital of the state was blank. The reasons were obvious. The young population of Eastern UP had given up on the region and had fled to the states on India’s western seaboard that could employ them. Before the daily Pushpak Express bound for Mumbai even reaches Lucknow junction, there is a queue for the second class unreserved coaches that snake outside even the platforms on to the road. Many of them would not have been able to return to vote but their family members would. And the migrants were not divided on religious lines, but were united in their poverty. No surprise the Lucknow Agra expressway is deserted — it connects no industrial centres and promises no manna at any end. Even the construction of the road in a record time, did not requisition local  labour.