As far as Amethi and Rae Bareli are concerned, the BJP does have a point. Ideally speaking the entire clan should be booted out of UP. The condition of their so-called pocket boroughs is pathetic. Visited the region not long ago and found even motorable roads almost non-existent, not to mention health care, education and the rest.
Even the Teen Murthi Bhavan, for all the goose bumps because of our love, admiration and respect for the great man, looked situated in some back of the beyond. Clearly from his days downwards, they all took it for granted, without sparing a thought for the unfortunate voters. That way the shehzada’s defeat last time in Amethi was well called for.
Anand Ranganathan, noted right wing journalist has sought to taunt the Gandhi family citing more than a score of institutions, mostly educational, named after Mrs Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and even a hospital named after Sanjay Gandhi, to show their megalomania.
How much of the benefits have percolated, how many of them indeed are functioning, one can’t say with clarity.
Obviously they have gone through the motions of some developmental work, but not just the region the entire state is a basket case after all.
Anand Ranganathan, noted right wing journalist has sought to taunt the Gandhi family citing more than a score of institutions, mostly educational, named after Mrs Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and even a hospital named after Sanjay Gandhi, to show their megalomania
Reporters insist that in Amethi there is widespread dissatisfaction with the sitting MP and minister Smriti Irani, and Rahul Gandhi would have had an easy time of it. Still he runs off to Rae Bareli, leaving Amethi to fend for itself.
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Possible he was not sure he would win this time either and his mother’s constituency seemed a better bet. Equally possible too, though this could be no more than a spin put out by embarrassed party managers, he didn’t want to be tied to one constituency instead of campaigning everywhere. The same logic could be applied to Priyanka Gandhi as well.
It is claimed in some quarters that Rahul would resign his Rae Bareli seat (if he wins of course) and Priyanka would contest thereafter in the by-election to follow.
In any case the two seem to have emerged star campaigners for the Congress, for the INDIA bloc. The alliance cannot afford to have the duo confined to personal battles. Still the optics are most certainly bad, very inopportune too, coming as it does when the momentum seemed/s to be building up.
The new Amethi candidate, described as a family loyalist, K L Sharma looked shell-shocked in his first appearances after the announcement, as if he was a sacrificial lamb. More dead than alive. Intimidated by the prospect of a fight with a heavyweight and underlining it was for his masters to carry on the campaign.
Reporters insist that in Amethi there is widespread dissatisfaction with the sitting MP and minister Smriti Irani, and Rahul Gandhi would have had an easy time of it. Still he runs off to Rae Bareli, leaving Amethi to fend for itself
If one scans the social media site X, one could see any number of tweets from the secular-minded explaining away or justifying the surprise decision of the Congress high command on Amethi and Rae Bareli.
Adding to the points mentioned above, they also talk about not allowing Rahul vs. Smriti the focal point of the campaign chatter and that in a waveless election and where local issues come to the fore, Mrs Irani’s poor track record would go against her and Sharma could win, rubbing the salt in the wound of the BJP.
Most secularists and even the extreme right fringe seem to think Modi’s fall is imminent. While opinion polls and satta bazaars still bet on his return, some would like to believe people have had enough of this government.
The extreme right think Modi is not right enough. They might all still vote for him, but when they declare openly the guy is sure to lose, it could be something. They might be getting their own feedback.
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The seemingly lower voter turnout and lukewarm responses to reporters have made the anti-BJP observers believe that its core base is not enthusiastic and that can only mean bad news for the regime. Besides by making issues like constitution and reservation the fulcrum of his own pitch, Rahul Gandhi has snatched the initiative from Modi and made him go for evermore revolting anti-Muslim propaganda which, in turn, could boomerang.
Yogendra Yadav, though an activist these days, has been known to be a reputed psephologist, and he thinks even in UP one could see serious erosion in the BJP vote-bank .
Such is the plight of the secular sections that they are willing to swallow all their criticism of the Nehru dynasty and are rooting for the Rahul-led India bloc.
For the alternative is clear and horrifying – unrestrained Hindu supremacism of the entire polity, setting back the clock by several decades, if not centuries.
As a perceptive journalist put it, “It’s sad people have to choose between incompetence and brutality.” We will know on June 4 how the majority feel.
