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Lok Sabha elections: A political tie-up coming to terms with social divide

Agra is a reserved constituency for the Scheduled Castes

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Supporters at a joint election campaign rally of Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party in Badaun, Uttar Pradesh | Photo: PTI

Aditi Phadnis Agra
Against the overhang of the magnificent red sandstone edifice of the Agra Fort, Bobby has been selling bananas from his cart for 30 years. He’s got no benefit from the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party-dominated government: No medical insurance, no Mudra Yojana, no gas connection…. 

The sun is blazing down, the asphalt on the road is melting, but all that doesn’t seem to bother him. He has unshakeable confidence that not only will the Modi government return to power, but that it should. Why? “If there is no Modiji, this nation will crack up into millions of pieces,” he says.