“I was born in power,” said Rahul Gandhi at a meeting held here in Lucknow on May 10 to discuss whether the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will change the country’s Constitution if it comes to power with a big majority in the 2024 general election.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi holding the Constitution. (PTI)
Holding a copy of the Constitution in his hand, he spoke about what he learnt during his two-decade-long political career, which, he said, was to promote Mohabbat (love) in an atmosphere of hate, making a direct reference to the BJP’s divisive politics.
While Gandhi claims to be spreading love, he can’t be sure of receiving the same from Rae Bareli, the constituency he opted for over Amethi that had sent him to the Lok Sabha in 2004, 2009 and 2014.
Interestingly, replying to queries on why he opted for Rae Bareli instead of Amethi, he said: “ I chose Rae Bareli as it is ‘karmabhoomi’ of my two mothers - Indira Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi.”
Now, Union home minister Amit Shah has taken it up as a challenge to work out strategies to ensure Gandhi is defeated in his mother’s former constituency. Shah not only addressed a successful public meeting but also drove down to the residence of sulking lawmaker Manoj Pandey, who recently switched loyalties from the Samajwadi Party (SP) to the BJP, and was apparently hopeful of getting a Lok Sabha ticket. Significantly, MLA Aditi Singh had already conveyed her reservations over the selection of the candidate nominated to fight Gandhi, Dinesh Pratap Singh.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi — who had once skipped a rally in Rae Bareli when Sonia Gandhi was in the fray — is now planning to address a joint rally for both the high-profile constituencies to ensure ‘his sister, Smriti Irani’ wins Amethi and Rahul loses in Rae Bareli.
While an outpouring of love for the Gandhi scion is expected in Rae Bareli, verbal skirmishes between the two parties are likely too. Handling the Gandhi fort is none other than Rahul’s sister Priyanka Gandhi, who once described herself as ‘ sherni’, a lioness. She is sweating it out in both Amethi -- where their confidante Kishori Lal Sharma is challenging Irani -- as well for her brother in Rae Bareli, represented by the Gandhis since 1950.
For about four decades, Sharma has been the connect between the Gandhis and the public. He knows every street and village, and, locals say, he remembers every family and the members: The contest is turning out to be interesting in Amethi even though the focus, for obvious reasons, has shifted to Rae Bareli.
Priyanka, who used to campaign on family seats every election, is not leaving any stone unturned because at stake is the prestige of her brother who has challenged Modi at the national level.
At meetings, she reels out the development work done by the Gandhi family in the two constituencies while responding to the charge of ‘utter neglect’ levelled at them by the BJP and its leadership.
As it turns out, Gandhi is not the reticent child of the 1980s when he used to travel with his father Rajiv Gandhi and mother Sonia Gandhi to Amethi, crisscrossing the lanes and the by-lanes of the constituency; nor is he the young boy who comfortably fought his first election from here in 2004.
Two decades ago, then Congress president Sonia, searching for a safe seat for her son’s high-profile debut in politics, opted for Amethi; the same seat chosen by her mother-in-law and late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for her son Sanjay Gandhi in 1980. Sanjay made his debut in the Lok Sabha after winning the seat.
After his death in a plane crash in New Delhi on June 23, 1980, Sanjay’s brother and Sonia’s husband Rajiv contested the polls from this constituency in 1984, 1989 and 1991 after reluctantly agreeing to enter politics. He was assassinated in Sriperumbdur in Tamil Nadu on May 21, 1991. While Sonia was mourning her husband’s death, family friend Satish Sharma preserved the constituency winning the 1991 by-polls and winning it again in the 1996 general election.
Sonia entered politics in 1997 and contested her first election from Amethi in 1999. Thereafter she moved to Rae Bareli in 2004, never to lose her seat.
The people of Amethi had literally launched the political careers of four Gandhis – Sanjay, Rajiv, Sonia and Rahul – and also shared their grief after deaths in the family. They also saw the youngest in the line grow from a child to an adult but the bond broke in 2019, which, as it turns out, some still regret.
The town of Rae Bareli also launched the political careers of Feroze Gandhi, Indira Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi. Now Rae Bareli’s citizens have an opportunity to send Rahul Gandhi to Lok Sabha. Many believe he will play a significant role in Indian politics: A victory in Rae Bareli lies squarely on that politically arduous path to significance.
Sunita Aron is a consulting editor with the HT based in Lucknow. You can find her on X as @overto. The weekly column, Keeping up with UP tackles everything from politics to social and cultural mores in the country's most populous state. The views expressed are personal.
E-Paper
