Barely months ago, during the assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, when Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra had started her speech at a public meeting in the tribal area of Dhar, some people burst into sloganeering: “Desh ki Aandhi, Priyanka Gandhi.”
Such rhetorical compliments delight politicians of all hues. But Priyanka interrupted them, warning against any such illusions. She said, “Aapko bachane ke liye koi aandhi nahin aa rahi hai. Jaagiye, bachaiye khud ko (No storm will come to protect you. Wake up and protect yourself).”
Arguing that leaders are not gods possessing special powers, she told the audience that only the citizens’ own political consciousness and their ability to enforce accountability can ensure a better social environment and brighter future for their children.
The Congress general secretary has constantly been on a mission to create awareness and political sagacity among the gullible people, passionately pleading with them to vote on the basis of their lived experience, their own struggles, and their own concerns, instead of getting waylaid by false promises, emotive issues, and diversionary ploys.
Addressing a rally at Banaskantha in Gujarat on Saturday (May 4), Priyanka asked people to look at Narendra Modi’s working style, pointing out that he is always seen on the television, with state heads, with celebrities, billionaires, but never with a poor man who needs his attention most.
“Gujarat gave him everything. He is the prime minister because of Gujarat. But is he concerned about your struggles? Farmers are in distress, women can’t buy essential items, petrol-diesel prices are abnormally high, youths are not getting jobs. There are 30 lakh vacancies in the government. But Modi is not concerned about your struggles,” she said.
“You are given five kilograms of ration, and speeches about Pakistan, Hindu-Musalman, X-ray machine to search your assets and snatch your mangalsutra, [that] the Congress will take away your buffaloes. Illogical, strange talk, worse than lies. To mislead you is not a leader’s job,” she said.
“I want to tell you, make the leaders accountable. A leader’s job is to solve your problems, to wipe out your tears. You should ask how the BJP became the richest party in the world and you became poorer. You should ask why the sugarcane dues of Rs 15,000 crore can’t be cleared and a new Parliament worth Rs 20,000 crore is built.”
The Congress itself has steadfastly refused to walk into the BJP’s trap, remaining focused on the bread and butter questions in response to the BJP’s polarising tactics.
While BJP president J.P. Nadda has been saying that the Congress is ‘anti-Ram’ and ‘anti-sanatan’, home minister Amit Shah said that the “INDIA alliance has become [the] Aurangzeb Fan Club.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has been talking about Muslims and mangalsutra, said in an interview, “There is a question in my mind – has there been a deal in Wayanad? That Muslims will get a share in reservation and they should ensure Congress victory in Wayanad and the country. The country wants to know whether such a deal has happened?”
An animation video was released by the Karnataka BJP suggesting that the Congress conspired to snatch the SC-ST and OBC quota to be given to Muslims.
But the Congress stuck to its agenda, with all its publicity material highlighting unemployment, prices, poverty, and its 25-point guarantee.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi released two videos promising abolition of the Agniveer scheme and asserting the importance of ideology in politics.
On Agniveer, he said a 75-year-old man is forcibly retiring 22-year-old youngsters only to benefit his billionaire friends. He also alleged that the ill-trained and ill-motivated Agniveer soldiers won’t be able to confront Chinese soldiers, saying that this was like playing with the nation’s security.
Speaking in Telangana’s Adilabad on Sunday (May 5), he stuck to the core issues like jobs, Modi writing off Rs 16 lakh crore of rich industrialists, rising economic inequality, welfare schemes, and social justice.
A video released by the party Sunday showed how a woman’s jewellery was sold because of poverty, and even the mangalsutra could go if her husband continued to vote after listening to the meaningless speeches on TV. This was a rebuttal of the mangalsutra discourse, telling the people that they lose their assets because of poverty, falling incomes, and rising prices, not because of the ‘imaginary concept of redistribution of wealth’.
Instead of making wild allegations and engaging in rhetorical criticism, Jairam Ramesh, the Congress communications chief, asks questions about substantial local issues every day wherever the Prime Minister goes for electioneering.
For example, on Sunday, his questions focussed on the prime minister’s visit to Etawah and Dhaurahra in Uttar Pradesh. Ramesh asked: “Why has the trauma centre in Sitapur Hospital been defunct for seven years? Was the promise to prioritise Tomato-Onion-Potato (TOP) yet another jumla? Last year, potato growers in areas like Etawah, Farrukhabad, Kannauj, and Auraiya reported selling their produce at rates below the state government’s minimum price. Farmers were only able to fetch Rs 500 per quintal, less than half their production cost of Rs 1,200-1,400 per quintal.”
Similarly, on Saturday, Ramesh asked about the problems of Darbhanga in Bihar as the prime minister visited there for a rally.
Ramesh asked: “Will AIIMS Darbhanga ever be built? Why has the BJP neglected the Maithili language? When will the Modi Sarkar address the annual flooding of the Kosi, Kamla Balan, and Bagmati rivers?”
Ramesh has sustained this grilling on specific issues ever since the campaign started, reflecting serious research and a determination to expose the government on real issues.
