Why is UP and Bihar always clubbed together ?

In all discussions across India why does UP and Bihar come up together ? Sure both share a certain set of similarities but so do many other states ... parts of MP are a lot similar to parts of UP, parts of UP are included in NCR, parts of Bihar are similar to WB, culturally UP, Bihar, MP and many other parts on North India are strikingly similar. Economically both are distinct. The only thing that does appear same is perhaps the kind of politics that is prevalent in both the states, but 'cast politics' is becoming more of a norm in India now.
Even the way the native people of UP and Bihar speak is different. The poor people of both these states who migrate to other places may look alike but that is how each and every poor of India looks like !!!
And just like any other state of India UP too have hoards of settlers from Bihar. Perhaps the reason both are clubbed together is that no one in UP has ever closed the doors to the Bihari, be it a student fighting the odds to become an IAS officer or the laborer who struggles hard to earn the daily bread.

PS: Please don't smudge this post with 'hate' comments and take the topic to some place else. I'm aware that both these states are scorned at and they don't deserve it (but even people like Mr. Amitabh Bachan like to make it a matter of joke with his funny accent of a 'chora ganga kinare wala' when he's shown walking down d polio booths, while he chooses to speak in sparkling english when he's speaking about the surge that India has made in various walks of life and this 'chora of ganga' is then walking along the lovely cost line of mumbai; more than being a case of what we want, its a case of what we expect that the media decides to show).

Behenji's Lucknow

Lucknow and Kanpur recently appeared among the top 10 cities in India for business/industry in of the leading business magazines. There are a lot of things working in favor of these UP cities like a very enthusiastic and young population, low infrastructural costs, a 'supportive' state government. I had the opportunity to visit Lucknow a couple of days back. It was a short journalistic stint which lasted a single night. I reached Lucknow at 8:00pm and spent the night roaming in different areas of the city finally leaving in the morning at 6:00am!
Most areas of the city are in fact very safe even at night, I could find police forces almost everywhere in the city (though none of them were alert and paid attention to people like me roaming at night, taking pictures. I could have easily been some terror element). The roads are nicely lit, which is a pleasant surprise in any UP city. One of my friends in Lucknow told me that there were no power cut in the city since the last few years. For a state in which most other (important) cities like Allahabad, Varanasi, etc. are facing a heavy power shortage with just under 20 hours of electricity provided on most days, this is quite a feat. The financial capital of India, the resurgent IT capital (Hyderabad) all are facing regular power cuts. The only street which was poorly lit was the one dedicated to the citizens by the former chief minister, Mulayam Singh Yadav. The street lamps were either broken or missing and along the stretch of a few kilometers I could not locate even a single police post, the only mistake of this forsaken road being its apparent loyalty to the Mulayam government.
There has been a recent development in the city politics with Mr. Akhilesh Das (the former Congress and SP supporter) joining Behenji's brigade. Huge banners and hoarding plastered the city streets pledging support of a few sections (read casts) of the city to the potent Behenji. This power show was atleast worth a few million rupees which could easily be utilized in much more thoughtful ways.
The whole city seems to have been engulfed in a 'blue' light. The color of the lights to light up major city statues, the lights around the road crossing, all other major structures were flooded with blue light signifying the illuminance of BSP waiting to spread on to Delhi with Behenji dabbing Delhi in blue hue.
The area near the railway station (central) and Hazaratganj is donned by many statues, some old and forgotten like that of Mahatma Gandhi and some immersed in heavenly blue light surrounded by scores of Policemen. While the blue statues (thus heavily guarded) fail to be more than a landmark for the city, the Mahatma's statue was still providing shelter to the homeless at night (see picture below).

With such disparity between the capital of UP and its other cities in almost all areas of development, it is a tormenting thought to think of Mayawati as the PM of India. If such a thing does happen I hope that BSP rises from its 'power-show-politics' and beings to think of the greater good of the underprivileged sections of the society which it claims to represent.

Students' Politics !!!

It is a troubled times for the people of Uttar Pradesh. The centre would not want to inturrupt in the dilapidating state of affairs in the state because the deteriorating conditions would mean a disgust created for the state government across the state's electorate which could be liquidated to massive vote support in the elections which are round the corner.

For the ruling state government, Samajvadi Party and its allies, its highly difficult to handle the situation without violent protests to which it is extending its full support. The burning of effigies of Lucknow University VC are a clear indication that the state government is going to use muscle power to overcome the crisis situation. Any person with a sane mind and a reasonable insight into the university politics would encourage the decision of the VC to with hold the elections considering the fact that the state government has been continually providing succour to the so-called (and self-proclaimed) student leaders. The ideological and moral assistance has now since some time advanced to making arms available to the students in a bid to silence their opponents. This disturbing fact has infact been justified by the self-styled students benefactors on the pretect that its a necessary measure towards their safety. The pictures of these 'student' leaders quite vocally convey their agendas. While most of them are in their late 30s, none seem to be fit enough to be called a student by any means.

There was a breath of fresh air provided by the Allahabad High Court on the issue of University elections some time back which incorporated some simple measures to ensure free and fair elections in the varsities. The ruling could also be interpreted as guidlines for a near-perfect student organization. The salient features of the ruling included important key points like, contesting students must be under 25 years of age, they must not have criminal records, the total expenditure on the election must be minimal, only hand made posters were allowed, etc.

The student fraternity has never been divided on the issue of elections, all are in support of it. The point of debate has always been the inclusion of goons and hard-core criminals and seasoned politicians in the student election arena under the candid disguise of a 'student leader'. The situation can improve only by the interception of the students themselves but, the big question remains, Who would bell the cat? With more and more of the current generation having a repulsive attitude towards the potent field of politics, it seems fit to question if the situation would ever improve.