Sonia’s mantra in Jind: Farmers, good governance

The political stage at Jind saw some deft manouevring by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. Her speech was classic political oratory: At once a mi...

The political stage at Jind saw some deft manouevring by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. Her speech was classic political oratory: At once a mild public admonition to Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda and a cutting criticism of the earlier Chautala regime. Her themes were good governance and farmers, and her message was that the days of fear perpetuated by Chautala has come to an end, and a new era of transparent and honest governance has begun.

If Hooda was listening, he could have learnt some lessons. Her message to him: Follow Sacha Raj Dharma.

Flanked by Hooda and Union Minister Kumari Selja, she was visibly overwhelmed by the crowds at ‘Dhanyavad rally’ in Jind, who swarmed up the pandal pillars for a better view. In fact, police had to resort to mild lathicharges to keep them from breaking the barricades.

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Addressing the gathering in Hindi, she said she was thankful to each voter in the state for their support. Sonia made it clear to Hooda that he should run the government in a transparent manner and enlist the support of all in a factionalised party.

‘‘Sarkar mein logon ke vishwas se barha kuchh nahin hai. App sache rajdharma ka palan karien aur sabke sehyog aur samarthan se sarkar chalaien (It is people’s confidence that runs a government. You do your work with the support of others),’’ she said.

If one theme of Sonia’s speech was governance, the other was the farmers. She said farmers’ efforts had led to the welfare of the state and emphasised that they would be provided with modern, technical education to improve living standards.