On campaign, Sonia gets crowds and cheers in Kullu

Addressing an impressive rally that far exceeded the Prime Minister’s Mandi meeting yesterday in terms of both size and enthusiasm, Con...

Addressing an impressive rally that far exceeded the Prime Minister’s Mandi meeting yesterday in terms of both size and enthusiasm, Congress president Sonia Gandhi today made a frontal assault on the BJP’s record of corruption in office, and promised a clean and development-oriented regime if the Congress was voted to power in Himachal Pradesh.

Significantly, Sonia Gandhi steered clear of the Hindutva angle that Atal Behari Vajpayee sought to inject into the Himachal campaign, and made no comments on either the cow slaughter/beef eating or the Ayodhya issue. Instead, her 20-minute speech at the packed Dhalpur maidan, famous for the Dussehra festival it hosts each autumn, focussed almost entirely on the ‘‘false promises’’ made by the BJP five years ago and its alleged saga of corruption. She said both at the Centre and the state, the BJP had failed to deliver on its promise of eradicating bhay, bhook, aur bhrastachaar (fear, hunger, and corruption). All three had actually risen since the BJP came to power, she said, pointing to the rise in terrorism as well as the spate of scams — stock market, petrol pump allotments, UTI, Tehelka, and the coffin scam — that had taken place in the past few years.

In the context of HP, she said the last five years had seen corruption reach unprecedented levels, and even government jobs were for sale. Speaking in fluent Hindi, she peppered her speech with earthy epigrams, much to the amusement of the crowds. Referring to the BJP’s tendency to blame the Congress for all ills facing the state, she said ‘‘Ulta chor kotwala ko daante’’. And pointing out that despite crores of rupees of central assistance, no money had reached the people, she said: ‘‘Daal mein kuch kala hain.’’

Countering the BJP claims that the real development of HP had taken place only in the last five years, she said it was Jawaharlal Nehru who gave the region a special status, Indira Gandhi who bestowed full statehood, and successive Congress regimes that provided the developmental impetus to the state. The state continued to have great potential, thanks to nature’s bounty and its ‘‘honest and hardworking people’’, she repeatedly said.

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However, the Congress chief remained silent on the one key issue plaguing the party’s campaign — the chief ministerial candidate. It was clear from the loud and persistent slogans at the rally that former CM ‘Raja’ Virbhadra Singh’s supporters were in an overwhelming majority. Raising slogans patented by V.P. Singh and Laloo Yadav cheerleaders in another era, they cried to the accompaniment of traditional Kullu drums and bugles — ‘‘Yeh Raja nahin, fakir hain, Himachal ki taqdeer hai’’ and ‘‘Yeh rally nahin, railla hain, Congress ka mela hain.’’

In fact, many Congress workers openly expressed the hope that Sonia Gandhi would officially nominate the ‘Raja’ at today’s rally — her first in the election campaign. Their argument was that once the confusion over the leadership issue was resolved, the Congress campaign would gather even more strength in the remaining three days. But Sonia, flanked by rivals Virbhadra Singh and Vidya Stokes, didn’t say a word on the subject, indicating that in the great traditions of the Congress, the High Command would decide the choice if and when the need arose.

Dressed in traditional Kullu garb (known as mattu ) with a Kull topi on her head, she did play to the local gallery though and talked of the Gandhi family’s long association with HP. To counter Vajpayee’s Himachal-is-my-second-home theme, Sonia dwelt at length on how much the state had meant to her mother-in-law Indira Gandhi. Indira Gandhi, she said, always looked forward to her trips to the state and treasured every gift — no matter how small — she received from the people of Himachal. The Congress chief went on to share a secret: ‘‘Indiraji wanted to live among you all after her retirement,’’ she said, ‘‘but couldn’t fulfill her dream because she laid down her life for the country.’’

Long before Sonia arrived in a helicopter and much after she left, all the roads leading to Kullu overflowed with colourfully attired men and women, all cheering for the Congress. While election rallies are not always a reliable indicator of mass support, today’s gathering did indicate that in Kullu region at least the Congress party is on a roll.