I stepped on Uttar Pradesh soil for the first time on Saturday. I was in Lucknow for a Friends of BJP event. As we were on our way from the airport for the event, a friend remarked: “There are not two but three Indias.”
The first India is is in which many of us live in — very urbanised metros and cities like Pune, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad. The third India is rural India (or Bharat as some call it). The second India in between consists of dozens of smaller cities and towns like Lucknow. It is an India that is not easy for us to relate to. More than just the nature of the city, it is also the mindset which differentiates people from the first and second India. Our challenge is not just to modernise the cities, but also the thinking.
