Questions have suddenly become more important than answers. At least, the campaign for the Uttar Pradesh election showed that amply. Politically correct questions kept being fielded from all sides throughout the poll campaign. The answers were expected from the electorate who had himself a list of questions to ask. Those, however, were conveniently drowned in the din.

After a full (and allegedly filling) term in the government, the Bahujan Samaj Party went to the electorates with a question: Samajwadi Party’s goonda raj or the Congress’ false promises? “The star campaigners of the Congress are promising to change the picture and future of the state in five years but we fail to understand if the brother and sister (Rahul and Priyanka) have got hold of Aladdin’s lamp to achieve it,” BSP state unit president Swami Prasad Maurya asked.  
The BJP questioned the silence of Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi on the issues of price rise and inflation. On the Congress Muslim quota card, Uma Bharti asked, “Why this insistence on religion-based reservation in a secular country? Why does the Congress want to turn India into Pakistan?”

The cake, however, was taken by the Congress scion Rahul Gandhi. His meetings in the state were more of questionnaire sessions where the listeners at least had a good time, even if not the answers. “Did Mayawati come to your house?” he asked a gathering in Lucknow. The listeners said ‘no’. “Then tell me, how will she work for your development?” Such carefully planned questions made Rahul’s rallies a huge success. In Muradnagar of Ghaziabad district, things didn’t go accordingly though. “Chandrabhan ji, you are contributing to the nation’s progress. What do you do?” the Congress scion asked a listener. With a gleam in his eyes, the young leader seemed determined to link whatever Chandrabhan did to the nation-building. But that perhaps was not his day; it was Chandrabhan’s. “I work for a liquor-making unit,” Chandrabhan shouted with a wicked smile on face, his left hand up in air. The crowd burst into laughter. After a pause and grin, Gandhi let it go and was back to his speech.

Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav questioned Gandhi’s questionnaire sessions. “People have their own questions too,” he said. But the lure of asking didn’t spare him either. “Can Rahul Gandhi identify this tree?” he asked a scribe in Gorakhpur. “I can,” he said proudly. 

While too much asking has left the voter confused, let’s hope the EVMs have the answers.