Decode Politics: As PM Modi visits, why Lakshadweep is more than 32 sq km for BJP

News Snapshot:

ONE OF THE halts in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s event-packed itinerary across southern states on Tuesday and Wednesday was the Union Territory of Lakshadweep. Modi reached Lakshadweep on Tuesday, chaired a review meeting on various aspects relating to the islands, and on Wednesday, laid the foundation stone for projects worth Rs 1,150 crore. An archipelago of 36 islands with an area of 32 sq km, making it the country’s smallest UT, Lakshadweep may seem a speck in the BJP’s grand India project. However, from the perspective of the projection of Modi as a national leader cutting across the North-South discourse,...