Dehradun, Jan. 14 -- It has been a common refrain through the years that elections should be held on 'real issues' such as public amenities, education, medical care, infrastructure development, etc., and not on matters that divide people on the basis of religion, ethnicity, caste, etc. It may also be claimed that, essentially, electoral mandates have tended to incline towards overall social and economic progress. However, on occasion, there has been voting on the basis of what may be termed as incendiary issues.
The political campaigns underway at present for the Mumbai BMC, for instance, have regressed to the most narrow identity distinctions that go against the established cosmopolitan nature of that city. There was a time when locals fe...