THE HINDU Editorial Vocabulary - March 6, 2018 - Topic 1

The next best: on Mayawati's support to SP

If politics is the art of the next best, then Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati is slowly becoming adept at it. She has been averse to pre-poll alliances, opting instead for post-poll tie-ups with either the Bharatiya Janata Party or the Samajwadi Party, depending on the nature of the electoral outcome. For her to now extend support to the SP in the by-elections to the Phulpur and Gorakhpur Lok Sabha constituencies in Uttar Pradesh is therefore a serious departure from practice. 

True, the support comes with riders. She made it clear this does not amount to a formal alliance and is no pointer to a tie-up for the 2019 Lok Sabha election. But implicit in her declaration of support is a recognition that the BJP is the party to beat, and that the BSP needs to back the strongest opposition party in elections where it is not a contender. If the Lok Sabha election in 2014 and the Assembly election in 2017 are any indication, the BSP has shrunk to its core, unable to win support outside the Dalit caste of Jatavs. Earlier, with the backing of an assorted group of Dalits, non-Yadav backward classes and minorities, the BSP was able to win a substantial number of seats in the first-past-the-post system. Ms. Mayawati’s reasoning against entering into any pre-poll electoral pact with other parties is not hard to understand: It is not a desire to guard against ideological compromises or the arrogance of an undisputed leader of a dominant party, but a tactic to force a multi-pronged contest and make the most of a fragmented vote. This worked most spectacularly in the 2007 Assembly election, when her outreach to social groups outside the BSP’s core support base, especially the upper castes, combined well in a multi-cornered contest. Since then, however, the BSP has been on the decline, failing to win even a single Lok Sabha constituency in 2014, a loss of 20 seats in Uttar Pradesh.

The BSP’s shrinking vote-bank now leaves Ms. Mayawati with little option but to make new alliances, and consolidate the anti-BJP vote. The same pragmatism that made the most of a fragmented vote will likely suggest to her that she take the pre-poll alliance route in the changed situation today. The SP has always been open to poll pacts, positioning itself as the principal opponent of the BJP. If the BSP takes a step forward, the SP will surely take two towards it. The Congress, with a geographically limited area of influence in Uttar Pradesh,would gladly try and replicate the grand alliance of Bihar 2015. Ms. Mayawati might be testing the benefits of an alliance with the SP in Phulpur and Gorakhpur. If the SP does well, the end-result might be more than an additional two members in the 16th Lok Sabha. It could be the beginning of a political churn.

Vocabulary

Adept: very skilled or proficient at something.

Example: He is adept at cutting through red tape

Synonyms: expert, proficient, accomplished, skillful, talented

Antonyms: unskilled

Alliance: a union or association formed for mutual benefit, especially between countries or organizations.

Example: A defensive alliance between Australia and New Zealand

Synonyms: association, union, league, confederation, federation, confederacy

Antonyms: antagonism, discord, disunion, divorce, enmity

Outcome: the way a thing turns out; a consequence.

Example: It is the outcome of the vote that counts

Synonyms: result, end result, consequence, net result, upshot, aftereffect

Implicit: implied though not plainly expressed.

Example: Comments seen as implicit criticism of the policies

Synonyms: implied, hinted at, suggested, insinuated, unspoken

Antonyms: expressed, hard-core, relative, definitive, declared

Contender: a person or group competing with others to achieve something.

Example: A presidential contender

Shrunk: become or make smaller in size or amount; contract or cause to contract.

Example: The workforce has shrunk to less than a thousand

Synonyms: get smaller, become/grow smaller, contract, diminish

Arrogance: the quality of being arrogant.

Example: The arrogance of this man is astounding

Synonyms: conceit, pride, self-importance, egotism, pompousness

Antonyms: bashfulness, confusion, consternation, dismay, distrust

Spectacular: beautiful in a dramatic and eye-catching way.

Example: Spectacular mountain scenery

Synonyms: striking, picturesque, eye-catching, breathtaking

Antonyms: undramatic, inconspicuous, invisible, unimpressive

Consolidate: combine a number of things into a single more effective or coherent whole.

Example: All manufacturing activities have been consolidated in new premises

Synonyms: combine, unite, merge, integrate, amalgamate, fuse

Antonyms: allot, appoint, apportion, appropriate, assign

Replicate: make an exact copy of; reproduce.

Example: It might be impractical to replicate eastern culture in the west

Synonyms: copy, reproduce, duplicate, recreate, repeat

Churn: agitate or turn milk or cream in a machine in order to produce butter.

Example: The cream is ripened before it is churned

Synonyms: stir, agitate, beat, whip, whisk