3. Uttar Pradesh: The Heartland of Indian Politics and Polity

Both SP and BSP had supported the Congress Party led UPA II from outside.

Kudaisya (2006, p. 6).

Ibid.: 7.

Ibid.: 86.

Ibid.: 86.

Ibid:. 87.

Ibid.: 150.

Ibid.: 152.

Ibid.: 207.

Ibid.: 207.

Ibid.: 278.

Ibid.: 279.

Ibid.: 279.

Ibid.: 284.

Ibid.: 286.

Ibid.: 336.

Ibid.: 351–9.

Kumar et al. (2012).

Kumar et al. (2012).

“The Legislative Assembly for the United Provinces was constituted for the first time on 1 April, 1937 in accordance with the Government of India Act, 1935. The strength of the Assembly as stipulated under the Act of 1935 was 228 and its term was five years. After Independence, the Legislative Assembly met for the first time on 3 November, 1947. Under the provisions of the new Constitution, the strength of the UP Assembly was fixed at 431 which was later revised to 426. After reorganization of the State on 9 November 2000, the strength of the Legislative Assembly has become 404 (When Uttrakhand become a separate state from UP) including one nominated member to represent the Anglo-Indian community. The term of the Legislative Assembly is five years, unless dissolved earlier” [http://​legislativebodie​sinindia.​nic.​in/​States/​UttarPradesh/​upassembly-w.​htm, accessed, March 16, 2013].

Gupta (2007).

Tiwari and Pandey (2013, p. 163).

Ibid.: 163.

Jodhka (2010: 163).

Tiwari and Pandey (2013, p. 163).

Ibid.: 189.

Mayawati of Bahujan Samaj Party coined a vitriolic slogan Tilak, Tarazu Aur Talwar Inko Maro Jute Char (The three upper casts should be kicked) [http://​www.​languageinindia.​com/​oct2004/​fatihiadvertisin​g1.​html, accessed February 24, 2013]. The BSP has come a long way since the days of its previous apolitical avatars the Bahujan and Minority Communities Employees Federation (BAMCEF) and the Dalits Shosit Samaj Sangharsh Samiti (DS4). Its slogans too have evolved along this sojourn. From “Tilak, taraju aur talawar, inko maro joote char” (It called upon the Dalits and backwards to shoe the brahmins, the banias and the thakurs) to “Hathi nahi Ganesh hain, Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh hain.” (It is not just an elephant, it is Lord Ganesha, It is Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu and Lord Mahesh), the BSP has traveled quite a distance [http://​timesofindia.​indiatimes.​com/​india/​Parties-come-out-with-catchy-slogans/​articleshow/​4391703.​cms, accessed February 24, 2013], see, Tiwari and Pandey (2013, p. 189), see, http://​shodganga.​inflibnet.​ac.​in/​bitstream/​10603/​4286/​13/​13_​chapter%20​6.​pdf, accessed February 21, 2012.

Tiwari and Pandey (2013, p. 189).

Ibid.: 189.

Ibid.: 190.

Jodhka (2010, p. 165).

Prahladan (2012).

Kumar et al. (2012).

Kumar et al. (2012).

See, Census 2011.

For detail see under news headline ‘Poll Plan: Caste shadows poll issues in UP’ on 4.2.2012 on The Hindu, http://​www.​thehindu.​com/​news/​national/​other-states/​poll-plan-caste-shadows-poll-issues-in-up/​article2857849.​ece, accessed February 4, 2012.

See news for details under headline ‘Jaitley: Congress creating communal divide in UP’ on 13.2.2012 on TOI, http://​timesofindia.​indiatimes.​com/​india/​Jaitley-Congress-creating-communal-divide-in-UP/​articleshow/​11866302.​cms?​, accessed February 13, 2012.

For more see, http://​www.​ndtv.​com/​article/​india/​six-riots-in-akhilesh-s-six-months-as-chief-minister-in-uttar-pradesh-268721, accessed, September 18, 2012.

Brass (2003, p. 366).

See news for details under headline ‘UP probes role of politicians in Muzaffarnagar riots’ on 9.9.2013. HT, http://​www.​hindustantimes.​com/​india-news/​lucknow/​up-probes-role-of-politicians-in-muzaffarnagar-riots/​article1-1119617.​aspx, accessed September 9, 2013.

Painter (1995, p. 13).

Media works in certain way to influence the potential election issues and therefore, sets an agenda and carves news in order to reflect a targeted direction to determine and influence audiences. During election days, the role of media is considered inevitable particularly when social media and TV media have become pivotal. “Agenda setting theory is the phenomenon of the mass media selecting certain issues and portraying them frequently and prominently, which leads people to perceive those issues as more important than others” (Wu and Coleman 2009: 776). Iyengar and Kinder infers Priming “changes in the standards that people use to make political evaluations” (quote in Scheufele and Tewksbury 2007: 11). “Priming occurs when news content suggests to news audiences that they ought to use specific issues as benchmarks for evaluating the performance of leaders and governments. It is often understood as an extension of agenda setting” (ibid.: 11). “Framing based on the assumption that how an issue is characterized in news reports can have an influence on how it is understood by audiences” (ibid.: 11). Media uses skilled techniques in order to influence audiences. Agenda-setting theory, priming and framing are considered tools which help the media, particularly news media, to influence their audiences. The news content, of course, admires geographical attributes and conceives media as a virtual space where geographical attributes are running at different representational form.

See news for details under headline ‘यूपी में ‘उगाहीराज’ और ‘गुंडाराज’ का बोलबाला’ on 3.2.2012 on Rastriya Sahara.

For detail see. ‘Urgent for change in daily’. The pioneer, New Delhi edition. Dated 24.3.2012.

Prahladan (2012).

Hasan (1996, p. 84).

Mulayam Singh Yadav found his political genesis during the JP movement and since then he became an instrumental regional leader in the politics of the UP. He became the CM in the year 1989 with the support of BJP but the government fell due to the reiterated demand of BJP to construct Ram Temple at Ayodhya, which caused the Janta Dal-BJP coalition in the state and in the centre also.

Pai (2002, p. 155–6).

Ibid.: 162.

Heath and Kumar (2012, p. 41).

Kumar et al. (2012).

McCombs and Shaw (1987).

For details, http://​zeenews.​india.​com/​state-elections-2012/​up/​issues.​html/​2, accessed October 28, 2011.

Anna Hazare was a noted social worker who played an instrumental role in pushing the Indian government to pass the Lokpal bill. His Lokpal movement was discussed extensively in the media during his five day hunger strike at Jantar Mantar in April 5–11, 2011 onwards. However, he shaped the discourse on corruption and Lokpal issue in India.

An ideological lokpal bill prepared under the leadership of Anna Hazare and his team members including Arvind Kejriwal and others. However, the government did not accept it fully but only followed some points from it.

Every day we encounter political news. Bennett and Graber infer political news as: “what newsmakers (politicians and other political actors) promote as timely, important, or interesting; from which news organizations select, narrate, and package for transmission (via communication technologies); to people who consume it at a given time in history”. News is something that is constantly changing the interaction of the trio (journalist, politicians and peoples). News is about sketching an image of particular place/space based on true incident/accident in order to subscribe who, when and whom the subject is concerned. Therefore, news considers place/space images to make the readers/audiences aware. “Place images have been systematically studied by geographers since the 1970s” (Adams 2009: 140). Being geographer, I am keen to know that what happened to the place/space with the help of media who brought us information in form of news, which I am considering in my study to explore the space through the lens of media. Prior to the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, which were held in 2012, the media disseminated information in the form of news, which can be classified into many categories to draw some inference.

Technological determinism is a state of conditions when an individual act is somehow governed by technology and he/she completely depends on technology for various purposes. For example, a mobile phone becomes a mediated gadget when people feel comfortable for a purpose or for different reasons and utilize the available means (news etc.) in an optimum way. How did mobile phones become an instrumental factor to ensure the victory of BSP in the assembly elections of 2007? For further on this see Jeffrey and Doron (2012).

Discourse simply means speech or communication or to engage in communication with others through a variety of means. The discourse analysis is an analysis of the way in which people communicate. The political discourse is simply about political discussion, when political parties discuss about political issues or other matters pertaining to the political understanding. My concern about the political discourse is the way in which media represents the space through news headlines where political texts and contexts are shaped and reshaped in quite “real” and “imagined” ways to bring a spatio-politico meaning. The political discourse is about the discourse of political leaders of different political parties who say different discourses on different occasions in their political capacity to adjust political understanding. “The overall idea of discourse theory is that social phenomena are never finished or total. Meaning can never be ultimately fixed and this opens up the way for constant social struggles about definitions of society and identity, with resulting social effects. The discourse analyst’s task is to plot the course of these struggles to fix meaning at all levels of the social”. Here, I am considering news as a political discourse which is neither open nor closed, but is rather shaping and reshaping the spatial discourse. A political understanding is posited through composite words where meanings are expressed in multilayer forms. It is like a ‘capillary’ notion of power, the concept of ‘discursive formation’ of Michel Foucault. Over period, subsequent authors have simplified the meaning of discourse (see Painter 1995: 13–14). The political discourse is here to substantiate the political knowledge when media is supposed to examine the same with a title or headline, is understood as political discourse. See Chap. 2 in this study to see how political discourse is established over a period of time and how the ‘Garibi Hatao’ programme was established in our socio-politico space. Here, political discourse is about the news which started in some contexts where issue based subjects were discussed in myriad capacities. See Bennett (2007).

Representation is about a symbolic identity either political or some other way. See, Lefebvre (1991). Lefebvre argues that “Representational space is alive: it speaks, it has an affective kernel or centre: Ego, bedW bedroom, dwelling, house; or: square, church, graveyard. It embraces the loci of passion, of action and of lived situations, and thus immediately implies time. Consequently it may be qualified in various ways: it may be directional, situational or relational, because it is essentially qualitative, fluid and dynamic” (1991: 42). The issues raised and discussed extensively during the election period in UP had to some extent shoved spatiality into something directional, situational and relational with spatial expectations. Of course, these issues are set to exemplify the spatial manifestations. “Representational spaces are symbolic works. These are often unique; sometimes they set in train ‘aesthetic’ trends and, after a time, having provoked a series of manifestations and incursions into the imaginary, run out of stream” (1991: 42). “Representational spaces, which are limited to works, images and memories whose content, whether sensory, sensual or sexual, is so far displaced that it barely achieves symbolic force” (1991: 50).