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LEADERS' CAMPAIGN: PRIYANKA
GANDHI VADRA Queen of Hearts Priyanka charms the crowds in Amethi as she goes campaigning to wrest back the Gandhi family's bastion for mother Sonia. By Javed M Ansari It's close to midnight and on the road to Shukulbazaar the lights seem to have been off forever. Wild grass on both sides of the road obscures the view, the pitched darkness and the oppressive humidity add an almost eerie touch to the surroundings. Up ahead, the faint outlines of this little settlement in the Jagdishpur segment of Amethi constituency is barely visible. A hamlet, dead or asleep. But that's until she comes visiting.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, 27, is doing what she does best: conquering hearts.
She's here to wrest back the coveted Amethi seat for her mother and tiredness is not an option. It maybe a jhopdi in Neoda village or the cycle repair shop in Zikhri village, but Priyanka, having squelched mud for too many miles, has time and a word for all of them. "Bijli aati hai? Kuchh kaam karte hain ya nahin (Is there power supply? Do things work or not)?" she asks the villagers. The touch is that of a gifted politician. "Since Rajiv's death, we have been waiting for somebody to listen to us. We have found her at last," says 62-year-old Shanta Devi after a 10-minute huddle with Priyanka in her mud-caked house. Accompanied by husband Robert Vadra, sister-in-law Michelle and a family friend, Priyanka continues her campaign, often late into the night. The SPG frequently asks her not to stop for small wayside chats, but Priyanka would have none of it. On her way to Peeparpur village, she spots a crowd comprising mainly old men and women. The SPG waves them aside but she orders the driver to stop. Then, resting her hands casually on an old woman's shoulder, she patiently hears her out. An old man tells her there is not even a brick road in the area. Immediately, she begins a kilometre-long detour on foot to see things for herself. She tells them that because this is election time, she cannot get the road built right away, but "I will get my mother to sanction it once the elections are over. If I don't do it, catch me when you see me next." For someone on her first full-fledged campaign, Priyanka is brimming with confidence. The spring in her step has caught even the opposition off guard. At the Jama Masjid crossing in Amethi, she drops in unannounced at BJP supporter Achche Lal's sweet shop. "Bhayya, kya khilayenge aap (Brother, what will you offer me)?" she asks demurely, then tucks into the jalebis that he offers. A few queries about his family, his business and then "Is baar aap zaroor Congress ko vote dijiyega (This time please vote for the Congress)." She may have won over for the Congress one hardcore BJP vote. As her campaign rolls on, some things are inevitable. Comparisons for starters. To some she possesses the clarity and firmness of her grandmother, Indira. When she sets out on the campaign trail each morning, Priyanka insists that only one party car accompany her cavalcade. Midway when she realises that some others have joined, she stops and refuses to move till they leave. "Don't follow me. Please go to the villages and work. I will not move till you go." Next day, she doesn't hesitate to tick off a local politician who asks her to promise a college for the area. "I will never promise anything that I cannot deliver." At the same time, she is the spitting image of her father -- polite and charming, a permanent smile on her face. Partyman Mani Shankar Aiyar says it best: "When I talk to her I feel I have fallen into a time warp. She is Rajiv resurrected." Unlike her mother she speaks extempore and in fluent Hindi, frequently breaking into Avadhi. At Baghipur village, she surprised voters by asking them to vote for "Rajiv Bhayya's mehraroo aur meri maa Soniaji (Rajiv's wife and my mother, Sonia)." Priyanka is a fast learner too. She began her campaign on Friday in a short chatty style. By the end of the day, she was speaking the language of development and her dreams for Amethi. At Neoda village, a local Congress leader persuades her to address students of a school that he runs. "I will not talk to you about politics," she tells the children and urges them to study hard so that they can get good jobs, which in turn will improve their lives. Gushes Sushil Kumar Shinde, the AICC general secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh: "She's improving at every stop." For the people of Amethi, Priyanka is the link between the past and the future. "Yeh Rajivji ki uttaradhikari hai (She has inherited Rajiv's legacy)," says Raj Karan Singh of Nizamuddinpur. They see her as someone who has the charisma and the brains to fell the BJP. "BJP ki Lanka, phookegi Priyanka (She will finish the BJP)," is the new slogan in Amethi. The sentiment is being echoed by Congressmen in Delhi. "She is the party's brahmastra (ultimate weapon)," says another partyman Jairam Ramesh. All that must wait. Right now, Priyanka is limiting herself to managing Sonia's campaign. "I'm here to help my mother," she says. This despite the fact that she is deluged by requests to campaign. "Every day I get calls pleading for her to be sent to their constituencies," says Shinde. Others are urging her to contest. But Priyanka remains the reluctant debutante. Next time perhaps the Queen of May. |
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The bylanes suddenly echo
with the sound of running feet, the cheers bounce off the houses, women elbow grey-haired
pensioners out of the way. Chaos reigns. She, smiling, fresh, alights from her light-blue
Tata Safari and almost lunges into the crowd. They touch her, hug her, fall at her feet,
and not a hair of her is ruffled.