FOR the 2014 general elections, the writing’s on the wall for the Congress — perform or perish. And that too in Sonia and Rahul Gandhi’s pocketboroughs of Rae Bareli and Amethi.
In a grim warning, general secretary Rahul was told by the party workers: “ Change your working style or get ready for the worst in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Maybe, Sonia Gandhi and you will win from Rae Bareli and Amethi, but the margin of your victory will be small.” On day two of Rahul’s stock- taking visit to his Amethi constituency, the workers also rejected his model of development and suggested that he should instead focus on the aspirations of the lower and lower- middle class.
Rahul Gandhi tasted this first hand on Monday when he was unceremoniously brought down to the ground and greeted with blunt and cutting words by grassroots workers on his home turf during a stocktaking meeting to review the party’s debacle in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.
The brutally candid closed- door huddle in the Tiloi assembly segment of Amethi’s Samrauta area lasted more than three hours and kicked off Rahul’s three- day visit to the constituency he represents in Parliament.
Though taken aback after getting an earful, the MP tried to pacify the disgruntled party members and vowed to usher in positive changes in the organisation over the next three months. “ The honest workers will be given prominence and those who are not committed to the party will be shown the door,” Rahul said.
This was the Congress scion’s first visit to the area after his party suffered electoral reverses, even in Amethi and Rae Bareli, considered strongholds of the Congress.
Mohsin Khan of Udwa Hemrajpur village was quoted as telling Rahul:
“ Promises have been made in the past also. Now it is time to act. We will believe in promises only after you fulfil them.” Jiyapur village head Rashidul Khan also did not mince words and pointed a finger at Team Rahul. “ You are surrounded by wrong people who call the shots in Amethi and Rae Bareli,” Khan said, adding: “ Some people are visible only when you arrive here.” Jaitpur village council president Ashok Saini told M AIL T ODAY : “ I made it clear to Rahul that things went wrong with the Congress in this area just because of his lack of judgement in deciding who is right and who is wrong.” Interestingly, the assembly poll winners and losers were segregated at the meeting. And this did not go down well with many party members. Satya Deo Tiwari, the president of the Rajanpur village council said: “ The seating arrangement gave many members an inferiority complex. There were four groups. The first constituted members of the booths where the Congress had secured the maximum votes. They were carrying red cards. Those carrying green cards were booth members where the party had stood second.
Yellow cards had been given to members of booths where we came third while the common workers did not get any card.” Kripa Sindhu Dwivedi, the Fattepur village council head, said: “ Rahul spent more than an hour with the first group and gave hardly one hour to the other three. He does not appear keen to give genuine party workers their due.
This was the reason behind the party’s defeat in UP.” In Salon, one of the workers asked him if he remembered the names of five workers from the area, to which Rahul said no. The worker then said that because he doesn’t know them, they are not beholden to him. The workers, the man said, are obliged to those who know them personally and they in return help them organisationally.
Some of the workers complained that Rahul always spoke of spending time with the Dalit and OBC families but not with the upper castes and told him that they shouldn’t be expected to vote for him if they do not figure in his scheme of things.
Tuesday’s interface took place at the Munshiganj Guest House. Replying to Rahul’s claim that he had brought the Indian Institute of Information Technology ( IIIT) and National Institute of Fashion Technology ( NIFT) to the areas, the workers said the children belonging to the lower classes wanted their basic needs met first.
“ I told him clearly that it would have been better if he had thought about basic needs like timely availability of fertilisers and seeds.
We get less than seven hours of electricity and most handpumps here are dry. There is no means for the poor to reach hospitals when they are ill. And there is no provision for free treatment,” Prithvesh Kumar Mishra, a Congress leader of Mohammadpur in Amethi, said.
“ We cannot afford to send our children to IIIT and NIFT because the fee is too high. Rahul must understand that he is not talking to rich people when he comes here. Staying in Dalit houses is all right, but the people are not ready to accept the Congress on the basis of Rahul’s false promises,” he added.
Another Congress worker, Harilal Yadav, also complained that the Gandhi scion seemed to be helping the rich and had appointed his “ sycophants” to important posts for long — a charge that was levelled on Monday too in Salon.
“ I asked Rahul to meet the OBCs also. He said block- level officebearers would now be chosen from a caste whose population is highest in the area. It is a welcome promise,” he said.
Over 100 Bharatiya Kisan Union ( BKU) members of Gauriganj area protested at the guesthouse gate and raised anti- Rahul slogans, complaining against the lack of power, water and health facilities.
Trying to reach out to them, Rahul invited them to discuss their problems, but they were clearly not impressed. “ He promised that he would ensure that we get power and handpumps.
He also assured us that the ill would be treated at Sanjay Gandhi Hospital in Amethi. But I told him he would suffer politically if he thought that mere promises would work. I asked him to change himself or we would change ourselves and that would be a bad day for the Congress,” Rita Singh, BKU in- charge, said.
A day ago, party worker Rahul Kachwaha had raised the same issues with the Gandhi scion in Salon.
He had said: “ You talk of development but it is a distant dream here. We don’t have roads, power or drinking water. How long do you think the people will vote for you?”
Courtesy Mail today