Sonia gets lukewarm response at Ramgarh

Ramgarh, April 4

Congress President Sonia Gandhi addressed a poorly-attended rally in Ramgarh town on Friday, and though she never addressed Narendra Modi by name, delivered a severe criticism of his Prime Ministerial ambitions.

During most of her 11-minute speech to request votes for the party's Hazaribagh candidate Saurabh Narain Singh, Sonia matter-of-factly listed the achievements during 10 years of the UPA rule. "These things were not easy to do. The Opposition placed hurdles before us each step of the way. However, nothing will stop us from helping the poor," said Sonia.

The meeting, scheduled to begin at 12 in the afternoon, began half an hour late. However, that was no relief for the organisers, who were frantically exhorting people to walk into the barricaded venue. That the rally happened around jum'ah hours didn't help matters. By the time Sonia's chopper descended, an unenthusiastic crowd - quarter the size Rahul Gandhi had drawn for his cancelled Gumla rally of April 1 - had turned up.

"Others say they will make magic overnight. Has it come to it that one has to tell the most lies to become the Prime Minister of this great country? There are people who will go to any extent to capture the chair," said Sonia.

Sonia said that the Congress does not lie to the electorate. "We have fulfilled each promise made in our 2009 manifesto. The same will happen for our 2014 one: we do not lie; we will complete each point," she said.

Earlier in her speech, Sonia also referred to violence without making it clear whether she was talking of Narendra Modi or Maoists. "Any kind of violence is a threat to our social fabric," she said. She then went on to say that those who have a history of violence should come into the mainstream.

Keeping in mind she was talking in the coal town of Ramgarh and referred to its coal workers. "Remember that it was the government of Indira Gandhi that nationalised coal mines. The Congress has always kept in mind the people who work in mines," she said.

Though short, the speech was not without its gaffes. Sonia addressed Jharkhand Finance Minister and Congressman Rajendra Prasad Singh - present onstage - as Rajendra Pratap Singh. At one point, she used the word "vanvasi," a term preferred by the RSS when it talks about the adivasis.

April 1; Congress does not disappoint

Gumla, April 1

After making the crowd wait for over four hours on Tuesday at the Aerodrome maidan in the town's outskirts, Congress leaders announced that Rahul Gandhi would not be making an appearance due to a malfunctioning helicopter.

It was a major embarrassment for the state unit of the party, as they had managed to draw crowds to match Narendra Modi's March 27 rally at the same venue but had to do without their star campaigner.

The irony was not lost on some people. "I knew these political parties would want to celebrate April 1 in some way," said Amit Toppo (21).

Pradesh Congress Committee's spokesperson Shailesh Sinha said a helicopter malfunction had forced the cancellation. "After his rally I Godda, there was a stopover at Ranchi. The pilot noticed smoke while trying to take off, so another aircraft was called for," he said. The Special Protection Group delayed things further. "The second aircraft was single-engine and SPG was not happy with it. By the time approvals came through, it was late. He had to leave at 5 PM," said Sinha.

Rahul also lost a chance to address crowds from the same site from which Rajiv Gandhi campaigned for Congress candidate Sumati Oraon in 1984.

Rahul was scheduled to arrive at the venue at 2 PM, though the district unit of the party had announced that he would arrive at 1 PM. There was a festive atmosphere on the grounds, not least because it was the eve of Sahrul, one of the most important adivasi festivals. However, as time wore on, people started leaving to go to the market and to prepare for Sahrul.

A large number of people stayed on the periphery of the three-tier security enclosure, so it was difficult to estimate how large the assembly was. "This is bigger than Modi's rally; the enclosure was smaller for that one," said Chama Bara (22). Lohardaga, the constituency in which Gumla falls, has a significant number of voters from the Oraon tribe. The Christian converts among them generally prefer the Congress. On the other hand, caste Hindus usually stick together. "This is nothing compared to the Modi rally. It took place on a [CPI-Maoist] bandh, too," said Vikram Kumar (18).

Congress candidate Rameshwar Oraon and Geetashree Oraon, minister in the state cabinet and the legislator from Gumla's Sisai, were among the leaders who tried to keep the crowd engaged during the four-hour wait. "My vote will still go to the Congress, but I am now worried about the party's chances here," said Krishna Tana Bhagat, part of a community that has always supported the Congress.

Some, however, went away happy. "I usually make Rs. 700 after a day's work. Today, just by standing here, I've made more. I'm out of stock!" said Nagendra Gope, who sold ice cream cones at the venue.

Narendra Modi's Rally at Chatra

Chatra, March 27

BJP's Narendra Modi on Thursday said in Chatra town that this is the first election in which the country has decided on the result before even voting.

Modi was on a day's chopper-hopping visit to the state and addressed two pre-election rallies in areas with Maoist presence apart from a similarly troubled area in Bihar's Gaya.

Modi's visit coincided with a Maoist bandh in the state and at his first meeting of the day in Gumla, which falls within the Lohardaga Lok Sabha constituency, he told the crowds that he would like to see the hul - and not the bandook - in the hands of the rebels. At Chatra, he congratulated the crowd for turning up: "You have rejected them by coming here today." Incidentally, a Maoist bandh had been declared on Rahul Gandhi's last visit to the state, on February 7.

During his 35-minute speech at Chatra, accompanied by BJP candidate Sunil Singh, and flanked by Arjun Munda and Raghubar Das, Modi exuded confidence. "This is the first election when the country has decided the elections before voting. Otherwise, why should so many people assemble here on such a warm day? I bow before your effort," he said, without actually bowing. "After I form the government, I will ensure that your wait does not go in vain," he added.

Modi branded this election unique for the volume of support he has been receiving. "Usually, people come together to throw a government out of power. It is for the first time that people are coming together to say, "Modi ko makaan do." People are coming together to make Modi Prime Minister, to give Modi power," he said.

The lone Prime Ministerial candidate in the country had begun speaking as the first few rows of the crowd were involved in a scuffle with the police. Even though police personnel waved batons to drive them back, people managed to break through barricades and enter the area reserved for invited guests and the Press.

Modi's soon had the distracted crowd's attention and often sought responses from people assembled on all three sides of the podium. Dropping his voice, he did a good impression of Rahul Gandhi without naming him. "Other leaders will tell you, "Gareebi man ki awastha hai," and that is because they don't know poverty; they don't understand it. For such people, born with a silver spoon, poverty is a mere photo-op," he said.

In Gumla, he reminded the people that it was Atal Bihari Vajpayee's government that facilitated the formation of Jharkhand. At Chatra, he promised to complete a project that the same government began: "Vajpayeeji started work on the super thermal power plant at North Karanpura [in 1999]. My government will complete it."

Modi also touched upon Jharkhand-specific issues. "To save your youngsters who are migrating, save Hindustan first," he said. He constantly glanced at notes when talking about the state and was clearly briefed by the Jamshedpur-based Munda and Das, for there was a reference to the poor condition of the Ranchi-Jamshedpur road in faraway Chatra.

Modi ended with an exhortation. "Don't worry about the people with the bomb and the pistol; go vote on the 10th [of April]," he said.

Rahul Gandhi & The Long View

February 14

There was a recent New Yorker piece about Barack Obama which talked extensively of how the US President always thinks of what his actions mean for the future. David Remnick quotes Obama aide Valerie Jarrett when he writes, “And then she said something that I’ve come to think of as the Administration’s mantra: “The President always takes the long view.””

Now, I don’t think Rahul Gandhi is quite the Obama. Nevertheless, I believe there is a lot of this “long view” thought process in a lot of what he does.

This belief stems from an interaction with someone whom I believe knows the Congress Vice President’s plans well. At one point in the meeting, he named Bhatta-Parsaul without being prompted. After visiting the villages and writing on his election campaign meeting for the Jewar assembly seat they fall within, I had described in February 2012 that it was the, “site of his most daring political escapade.” I also wrote that since Rahul’s visit, “….Jewar, held by the BSP's Horam Singh, has become the Congress's to lose.”

Yet, the Congress lost the seat to the BSP in 2012. I mentioned this to the individual. He said that the social conditions of the area were an obstacle. So I asked, tongue-in-cheek, “Doesn’t Rahul Gandhi transcend caste?” To me at least, the answer was surprising. “No,” the man said, in all seriousness, “but we are working on it. Give us 25 years.”

Twenty five years. Five election cycles. In Jharkhand, where I work, it’s an appropriate collective noun of chief ministers. Only vision documents and the Planning Commission talk in terms of 25 years, not politicians.

There is this maddening snail-ness about Rahul Gandhi; even regression. In September 2009, I wrote that, “Rahul Gandhi went to JNU on Tuesday for a bout. He brought along the paraphernalia too: armed guards, Member of parliament Meenakshi Natarajan’s research and a truckload of tenacity.” That night’s interaction with the students of the Jawaharlal Nehru University was an inspiring performance, in a campus that stopped his grandmother at the gates.

At JNU too, he talked of the long-term future of the country. More importantly, he seemed to have done his homework and come up with answers. On the other hand, at Ranchi in February 2014, he was asked about some of the same problems that he was faced with when he visited in September 2012. He did not have solutions and worse – as with the issue of devolving power to the panchayats - had lost the opportunity to make a change in the meanwhile, using the fact that the Congress now shares power with the JMM here and even handles the relevant portfolio.

In spite of all this - and the Times Now interview, one must add – there is a constant about Rahul Gandhi. It has been his passion for organisational elections within the Congress. His party’s spin doctors will point out that the Aam Aadmi Party merely copied what Mr. Gandhi has been trying to do for a very long time, but that the Congress is a far bigger, more stubborn organisation. The individual I met claims that the Congress V-P is a different man altogether when discussing this organisational revamp: he knows its details intimately and is more passionate. After all, the pre-election advertisements featuring him have so far been solely about the new blood in the party. In that sense, also taking into account how he has “guided” government policy of late, he performs more as a Sarsanghchalak than anything else.

Probably the main reason why Mr. Gandhi can think in terms of 25 years is because he trusts the stability of his dynastic relationship with the Congress. It is therefore ironical that he tries to use that position to bring in youngsters without a background in electoral politics. During this interaction I keep referring to, someone turned to the individual holding court and asked, “Why are we not seeing more Rahul Gandhis?” His reaction was to turn to me and ask, “You’re from Kerala, right? Tell them how it is working so well out there!” So much for trying to mask your identity and believing you had developed a neutral accent.

All through that interaction, whenever the topic of organisational elections came up, this individual would go back to describing Kerala. He talked glowingly of the youngsters with no previous electoral politics experience taking to the Youth Congress. I have since come to believe that Kerala is Rahul Gandhi’s Saranda.

The Saranda forest in Jharkhand’s West Singhbhum district was till recently a no-go area for representatives of the Indian state, with the CPI-Maoist operating its Eastern Regional Bureau out of it. Since, a unique experiment where massive developmental effort follows armed action has helped the state establish its presence within the Sal forest. Saranda is viewed as a pilot study for left wing extremism-affected areas. Its failure will not be in isolation; it could mean the scrapping of similar plans for other areas and starting afresh.

So far, Kerala has held. But then, Kerala – where the disciplined, cadre-d CPI-M is more than just a political party – is no Uttar Pradesh.

Even as the Rahul project proceeds languidly with its 25-year-deadline, the Congress has elections to win. It is frustrating covering Mr. Gandhi’s recent events as a reporter – almost everything is behind-closed-doors and the Congress V-P hardly says anything. Instead, he listens. He is gentle, warm, sensitive, inquisitive. But at the end of the day, he ends up being a glorified shrink, to whom people from all over are invited to come and vent.

It has got to a point where reporters are asking, “What just happened?” to each other at the end of Rahul’s interactive sessions. Which is what the bureau chief of an English daily asked me after Mr. Gandhi’s recent Ranchi visit. The truism-laden headlines are an indication: “In Jharkhand, Rahul holds meeting with women tribals,” “Rahul Gandhi meets railway porters, trackmen, promises to solve their problems.”

At the end of his interactions, there is always this hope – among his audience as well as reporters – that there will be a rabbit out of Rahul Gandhi’s hat. That he will make a grand promise, offer some solutions. Instead, he takes it all in, becoming a repository for all things India. Mr. Gandhi surely intends to use it over those 25 years. However, winter is coming.

Empower Us, To Empower You

This piece was published, edited, here.

February 7

They say a man who listens is a prized catch. By that indicator alone, Rahul Gandhi's stock should rise.

After all, it is not everyday we see a political leader asking people what they want. Almost never are our adivasi women posed such a question.

On Friday morning at Ranchi's Hotel Ashok, Rahul Gandhi listened. He even asked party general secretary B.K. Hariprasad not to interrupt when the latter tried to make a woman cut her speech short. He listened through complaints, he chuckled at anecdotes.

However, he answered what he wanted to. There was of course the talk of empowerment, on a loop. Worse, often his answers were twice removed from the questions.

Women stood up to ask micro-problems. There were several questions about anganwadi sevikas, parateachers, adivasi women's inheritance rights under tenancy laws, human trafficking, branding of women as witches: all Jharkhand-specific issues expected to be asked by adivasi women.

Yet, Rahul answered by throwing back stock answers at them - MNREGA, Right to Food - missing a chance to make clear that he has understood the problems of the adivasis with some nuance and to offer solutions.

Probably the only direct promise he made to the 800-odd women during the one-hour interactive session was that he would pressure the state government, of which the Congress is a coalition partner, to give more power to panchayats.

But that is not new, even for Rahul. On day one of his two-day visit to the state in September 2012, Rahul had met with panchayat representatives, who raised the demand of devolution of power. At that point in time, the BJP and JMM were leading the government here. Since then, the Congress has come to share power - even handling the relevant portfolio - but little has been done for the panchayats.

Maybe the Congress Vice President has taken on the empowerment of women as his new project, probably evident from the absence of a meeting exclusively with youngsters during his Jharkhand visit. He is already miles ahead of his counterparts when he shows a willingness to listen and talk to the most deprived of this country. But there is no evidence yet that he can walk the talk.