Democracy is more than distant institutions or elections every few years. It is precarious and urgent, a struggle by people to assert their most basic rights in their daily lives. Over the past few weeks, protests across the country have made questions about rights and accountability a public conversation. Workers, artists, activists, collectives, and students have come together on to the streets–many for the first time–to exercise their right to dissent and to make their voices count. As slogan

Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari had earlier said that 80% of the Muslims in Nandigram and 60% of the minority population in Rejinagar had voted for the BJP in the bypolls held on October 6

Himanta Biswa Sarma cites the demographic shift in four eastern States to drive home his point