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Journalism of Courage
‘‘We are the people who set up the pandals for the Congress rallies, we get the durries, manage the crowds, put up the posters just to catch the leaders’ eye. Today, it is nice to see the leaders trying to get our attention,’’ says Riaz Zaidi, block president from Bijnour, UP.
Today, the Congress remixed the old slogan of ‘‘garibi hatao’’ to ‘‘Congress ka haath, garibon ke saath’’ for the lowest denominators of the party — the block presidents — hoping they would take it back with them to the grassroots level.
These men, however, also stressed there was little option left with the party but to get back to the development plank.
Former MLA from Godhra, Rajendra Singh, said, ‘‘Congress is in a dilemma in Gujarat on Hindutva. It is not secularism that is going to work in a communal situation but poverty alleviation. Because after almost 100 days of Modi’s return to power, people are now realising life does not improve in the name of god.’’
Raju Solanki, block president from Bhavnagar, said, ‘‘Murder of a popular leader like Haren Pandya has put a question mark on the integrity of the party among Hindus themselves. For Congress at this time, to talk of development is the only way out.’’
Those from J-K felt a coalition with a regional party with a development-oriented programme was the only way terrorism could be checked.
Habibullah Mir, from Pulwama, said, ‘‘The people who were killed in Nadimarg were fighting terrorism in real life. We all know development has also been a casualty.’’ Mohammed Amin, from Kupwara, said, ‘‘Congress’ stand against POTA helped it because it is Kashmiris who are targeted most under POTA.’’
