It was a rainy Saturday afternoon in Dehradun. Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami had wound up after recording a video message at the adjoining camp office—his official residence, a 10-acre affair on New Cantonment Road that his predecessors thought to be jinxed, would have seemed an auspicious place to park himself on such a day. Winter rains cause more than just a dip in temperatures in these parts, and he had had to suspend his campaign travel. It would have been foolhardy to risk getting stuck on a winding mountain highway, with a landslide ahead and a steep fall on one side, just a fortnight or so before polling.
That hypothetical scenario, in fact, can well serve as a visual metaphor for the situation 46-year-old Dhami finds himself in. The hill state casts its ballot on February 14 to elect a new 70-member assembly, and the dew-fresh CM, coronated only last July, could well be staring at a future that’s blocked off, with peril lurking on all sides. Indeed, in that locked-down pose, Dhami could well symbolise any young Uttarakhandi, facing a similar cul-de-sac when it comes to life-chances. That’s precisely why he is meeting this battle with a campaign designed to appeal to that demographic. With good reason—60 per cent of the state’s voters are younger than Dhami. Promising to unlock futures for everyone would be a good start.
History is his first obstacle. No Uttarakhand CM, except N.D. Tiwari, has ever completed his tenure or managed a repeat mandate. In fact, in the last two assembly polls, the incumbent CMs had to face ignominious defeats in their own seats—in 2017, Harish Rawat lost from both the segments he contested.
Esta historia es de la edición February 07, 2022 de India Today.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 8500 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición February 07, 2022 de India Today.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 8500 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
The Mamata Pushback
The West Bengal Chief Minister Faces A BJP Onslaught On Issues Like Corruption And Women's Safety. Unwilling To Yield An Inch, The TMC Is Building A Narrative That The Saffron Party Is 'Anti-Bengali'
Who Will Win The Mahayuddh?
In Maharashtra's Most Complex Political War Ever, Shifting Alliances Fuel A Gripping Saga Of Power Struggles And Betrayals In The Pursuit Of Votes
Grand Young Master
Seventeen-yearold D. Gukesh has become the youngest player to win the Candidates chess tournament
SPORTING SPIRIT
BADMINTON PLAYER ASHWINI PONNAPPA, 34, IS OFF TO HER THIRD OLYMPICS, THIS TIME WITH A NEW PARTNER, TANISHA CRASTO
PORTRAITS OF A PEOPLE
Etchings by the colonial Flemish artist F. Baltazard Solvyns are getting a new lease of life in an exhibition at the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai
Centennial Man
A seminal exhibition of K.G. Subramanyan's works in his birth centenary year at Emami Art, Kolkata takes an imaginative and immersive curatorial approach
Rhythms of Nature
ARTIST AND MUSIC COMPOSER GINGGER SHANKAR'S LATEST SINGLE COMBINES SOUTH INDIAN MUSIC WITH INUIT THROAT SINGING
SEARCHING FOR THE SOUND
Kashmiri musician Faheem Abdullah’s debut album Lost; Found is a collaborative effort
FOUND IN TRANSLATION
With its excellent translations, Songs of Tagore makes Rabindrasangit accessible to the non-Bengali reader
Of Freedom and Friendship
T.C.A. RAGHAVAN'S CIRCLES OF FREEDOM FOLLOWS THREE YOUNG MUSLIMS DRAWN INTO THE FREEDOM STRUGGLE