Sign in

Now, Rahul sets stage with clear message

RAHUL GANDHI may not have accepted any post and may not have said that he would lead the Congress?s election campaign. But by venturing out of Amethi and Rae Bareli and hitting out at the issues concerned with the youth and touching the emotional chord, Rahul has definitely taken a step forward that brings him closer to the centre-stage of State politics.

Published on: Aug 9, 2006, 00:11:00 IST
None | By , Kanpur
Share
Share via
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • linkedin
Copy link
  • copy link

RAHUL GANDHI may not have accepted any post and may not have said that he would lead the Congress’s election campaign. But by venturing out of Amethi and Rae Bareli and hitting out at the issues concerned with the youth and touching the emotional chord, Rahul has definitely taken a step forward that brings him closer to the centre-stage of State politics.

HT Image
HT Image

Rahul Gandhi has given sufficient indications that the young MP is not only coming out of his learning process but has also matured fast as a leader. If one goes by the tone and tenor of Rahul Gandhi’s address, he has struck an emotional bond not only with the youth but also with others.

“Previous generation had so many compromises and tolerated a lot. This generation is in no mood to make compromises and tolerate any more,” said Rahul. As he made this point, the response from the crowd was euphoric and there were shouts of Rahul Gandhi zindabad.

Rahul also gave a lesson or two in politics to his partymen. Rahul could be seen standing up and vacating his seat as and when any senior leader reached the dais. Rahul got up to pay his regards and make way for the senior Congress leader Mohsina Kidwai. Rahul folded his hands and greeted senior party leaders when they reached the podium to greet him and his mother Sonia Gandhi.

Rahul was obviously aware that factionalism was the main reason for party’s ills while the caste division was responsible for the prevailing state of affairs of society. So Rahul touched the issue narrating a story that his father, the late Rajiv Gandhi had related to him earlier. “When I came to UP for the first time 20 years ago, my father, the late Rajiv Gandhi, told me a story,” said Rahul adding the story focused on how branches of a tree could not be broken if they were put together. Rahul Gandhi obviously wanted to tell his party men the old saying of ‘unity is strength’ or ‘united we stand and divided we fall.’ This assumes significance as factionalism is considered to be the main factor behind the party’s ills in UP today.

Rahul also used a different method to convey his point that the Mulayam Singh Yadav government was taking care of only a section of society. “If you sow seeds only in a part, how could the crop be harvested in entire field?” he asked adding that the Mulayam government too was focusing only on a section of society.

Rahul said that UP figured nowhere on the chart of progress. The industry was moving out of the State, he said. Rahul also called upon the youth to identify the hidden talents within themselves. No outsider would come and tell you anything, he said.

“The state’s youths are looking for job options in Punjab, Haryana and Maharashtra,” he said. About the disbursement of unemployment allowance by the Mulayam Singh Yadav government, Rahul said that the youth did not need the unemployment allowance. What they needed was job, said Rahul.

  • Umesh Raghuvanshi
    ABOUT THE AUTHOR
    Umesh Raghuvanshi

    Umesh Raghuvanshi is an award-winning journalist with nearly four decades of demonstrated experience in the profession. He is the author of Ayodhya: The Gods Are Liberated. He is skilled in storytelling and newswriting, and writes on politics, governance, legislature, finance, environment, and social issues. He is based in Lucknow, is well-travelled, and has covered several national and international events, as well as all assembly and parliament elections in Uttar Pradesh since 1984. He has been a visiting scholar at the Graduate School of Journalism, University of California, Berkeley, USA, and a Metcalf Fellow at the Metcalf Institute of Marine and Environmental Reporting, University of Rhode Island, USA. He is a science graduate from DBS College, Dehradun, and holds an MA in Political Science from DAV (PG) College, Dehradun. He won the KC Kulish International Merit Award for excellence in journalism (2015) and received it in New Delhi in 2017. He also won a competition organised by the United Nations Environment Programme DTIE OzonAction Programme in 2009 that assessed coverage of the interlinkages between ozone and climate change. He was awarded in Beijing, China, in 2010. He started his career with a Dehradun-based English daily in the early 1980s and later worked with The Pioneer too.Read More