This is what the opposition is most hoping for:
https://www.ft.com/content/c832e0cf-9fbd-43b5-a8b7-2685634f1454Then I hit the campaign trail, alongside a group of 20 media colleagues with whom I have covered 32 Indian national and state elections over the past 25 years. This time we tracked the campaign from the east coast to the west, traversing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Maharashtra. And as is often the case, the conventional wisdom did not survive the road reality test. Nowhere on this 2,000km, eight-day route did we hear the sounds of a wave.
We heard no backlash against the prime minister either. Just a return to an India before Modi mania, focused on local issues and leaders — with events in New Delhi an afterthought. The urban middle-class stir with pride at Modi’s base case for a third term — that a roaring economy is raising India’s global stature. But many rural voters do not.
