Srinagar, Jan. 16 -- Recent headlines have offered clues about the way the wind is blowing before the general elections in India. A make-or-break element in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's re-election bid in May lies in Uttar Pradesh. It was here that he swept the 2014 polls on the back of anti-Muslim blood and gore set off in Muzaffarnagar, what some in the prime minister's choral media have praised as 'Modi Magic'. Spurring his win in the country's most populous state was a palpably disharmonious opposition. That may have changed this year - or has it?
Let's quickly scour the headlines. My first story refers to the Congress party's bizarre plan to contest all 80 parliamentary seats in UP on its own. What then becomes of the promised coali...