Amethi decides

Published : May 21, 2004 00:00 IST

in Amethi

WILL Rahul Gandhi's margin of victory surpass that of his mother? That is the only point of discussion in Amethi now. The people have voted and Rahul's victory is a foregone conclusion in this Nehru-Gandhi family bastion. The also-rans in this virtual one-horse race are the BJP's saffron-clad Ram Vilas Vedanti and the BSP's Chandra Prakash Mishra. The Samajwadi Party did not field a candidate as a "blessing and goodwill gesture" to Rahul.

Like a typical Indian mother, Congress president Sonia Gandhi selected Amethi as her son's launch pad in electoral politics, the seat having been nurtured by the family for decades. As Sonia's poll manager, her daughter Priyanka Vadra had kept in touch with the people there. At Sonia's Delhi residence, 10 Janpath, people from Amethi get a special welcome; they can just walk in.

This dil ka rishta (relationship of the heart), as Rahul Gandhi calls it, evoked in the people of Amethi memories of Rajiv Gandhi. Their love for Rajiv transcends everything else. The constituency had wept like a family on his assassination in May 1991. His son, they found, had the same cheerful disposition, charming smile and easy way of reaching out. "He resembles Rajiv so much that we are compelled to support him," said Ram Narayan Pandey, echoing the sentiments of an overwhelming majority. Rahul's political immaturity and shyness seemed to melt in the warmth of the slogans that rent the air wherever he went: Amethi ka jan jan, Rahul ke sang sang (people in Amethi are with Rahul) and Rahul Bhaiya aye hain, nayi chetna laye hain, (Rahul has come and brought in a new awakening).

Indeed, his arrival on the political scene has given a fresh lease of life to the party all over the State and this could result in an upswing in the party's fortunes in many seats. "It has made people hope for a new leadership. He comes without any baggage of the past and his youthful leadership is a refreshing change," said Deepak Kumar Mishra, a lecturer in a local college. According to him, Rahul has energised the youth as never before.

Sonia Gandhi won the seat in 1999 with 67.12 per cent of the votes polled defeating Sanjay Singh by over three lakh votes. Sanjay Singh could manage only 19.06 per cent of the votes. "Rahul's appeal goes beyond caste, religion, creed, gender and even region. He has endeared himself to people wherever he has gone," said Congress' Satish Ajmani, who accompanied him during campaigning. For now Amethi waits for May 13, when the margin of Rahul Gandhi's victory will be known.

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