Good news for the Gandhi siblings?
Is the mood turning in favour of the Gandhi siblings? While the Congress is not slated to cross double digits in the UP elections, while travelling in western Uttar Pradesh, I found a surprising support for the Gandhi siblings. Since everyone has a smartphone, very few are watching the mainstream media these days. And they all seemed well informed about not just the farmers’ bills, but even on issues such as Pegasus, China and of course the economy. The consensus in some places was that Rahul was not the Pappu he was made out to be. And Priyanka too was seen as someone who is likeable—but since this was a Jat dominated belt, they all concurred that Sonia Gandhi had made the right decision in promoting her son over her daughter, “because that’s how it should be”. Some mindsets will take a while to change.
Politics over Netaji
The 125th birth anniversary of Subhas Chandra Bose turned out to be an exercise in praise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Apart from that, there were some concrete suggestions regarding Subhas Chandra Bose, with D.J. Chauhan, the Minister of State for Communication, historian Dr Kapil Kumar and other speakers came up with their suggestions. One was to rename Rajpath (a legacy of the Raj, they said) to Azad Hind Fauj Marg. Though there is already the INA market in Delhi. Another speaker spoke of the need to revive Akhand Bharat (claiming to be a vision of Bose), spread from Afghanistan to Myanmar. And of course declassification of the Netaji files by Modi was also sought. The move to bring back Netaji into circulation is being seen by the left-liberals as yet another move to undermine Nehru’s contribution to the freedom struggle. However, there is some merit in the Modi government’s move to give prominence to other leaders who took part in the freedom struggle such as the honour given to Raja Mahendra Pratap recently. Of course, this move would have some credibility if only it was being done without an ulterior motive in mind, but then again, that’s politics.
A Chance Encounter
While campaigning at the Nehru Chowk in Jhangirabad in Bulandshehr (Western UP) Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s cavalcade came face to face with Akhilesh Yadav and Jayant Chaudhary’s Vijay Rath. It was a campaign moment as Priyanka raised her hands in greeting and the two UP ke ladke also clambered onto the rooftop of their bus and waved back. Later, Akhilesh tweeted, “Ek Dua Salaam, Tehzeeb Ke Naam.” And Priyanka responded with a “Hamaari bhi apko Ram-Ram”. It’s this spirit of camaraderie that is otherwise missing in the campaign for the Hindi heartland, which recently saw bullets being fired at Asaduddin Owaisi’s cavalcade.
Rahul in Chhattisgarh
In the midst of Uttar Pradesh poll management, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel’s son Chaitanya is to get married on the 6th of this month. Although Rahul Gandhi was invited to the event, he blessed the couple during his earlier visit to the state on the 4th, when he laid the foundation for the Amar Jawan Jyoti in Raipur. What is interesting is that Rahul’s Chhattisgarh visit also included a stopover on Ambikapur, which is considered Baghel’s bete-noire T.S. Singhdeo’s stronghold. This led to a poster war between the CM’s supporters and Singhdeo’s supporters, as the latter had posters of Rahul Gandhi with Singhdeo, but with the CM missing. As a result, Baghel’s faction tore down those posters. The CM rotation question is still hanging in the air since Rahul Gandhi has not issued any public statement on the matter as yet; and the Baghel camp is hoping for some clarity before 10 March—that is when Assembly poll results come out.