A few days ago, Narendra Modi, another chief minister with national ambitions, released an “open letter” to his counterpart in Kolkata, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, and to Bhattacharjee’s self-appointed Nano-nemesis Mamata Banerjee. Modi’s letter lectured the former on Bengal’s work ethic, and the latter on how Gujarat’s opposition behaves. This might be good local politics, but again it mocks India’s diverse federal structure, and is unbecoming — especially from a winner to a loser. Yet that is not as bad as Mayawati’s naked use of the state’s discretion against political opponents.
Uttar Pradesh, and the country, deserve better.