Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday called upon Madhya Pradesh people to elect such a strong government that cannot be ‘purchased or felled’, and that could work tirelessly for a better future of the people and solve their small or big problems.
She said that the current politics is all about allegations and counter-allegations and talking bad about opponents. “I too can speak for 10 minutes each to criticize Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi, about the fake announcements, scams and theatrics of (chief minister) Shivraj Singh Chouhan, and (union minister Jyotiraditya) Scindia whose ideology suddenly reversed. But I am not here to distract your attention and so I will speak only about your actual issues,” Gandhi said. She added these actual issues were steep price rise, unemployment and the poor living conditions owing to that.
Gandhi was addressing a massive public meeting in Gwalior called ‘Jan Aakrosh Rally’ – her second in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh after Jabalpur where she launched the Congress poll campaign last month.
Gwalior is a key place in Madhya Pradesh politically as it is the biggest city in the Gwalior-Chambal region, which has 34 seats in the state assembly, and considered the bastion of the Scindia family. Congress had won 26 out of the 34 seats in 2018 polls, paving the way for the party to form a government in the state after 15 years.
However, this was when Scindia was the party’s campaign committee head and his crossover to the BJP along with 22 MLAs (of whom 15 were from the region) in March 2020 changed the equations in the crucial region. The Congress, which lost the government in the process, however, managed to show that it still holds a significant vote base in the region as it managed to win seven out of 16 seats in the region for which bypolls were held in November 2020, though it could win only nine of the total 28 seats that went to polls.
This time, the Congress has made it a prestige issue to get maximum seats in the region hence planned Priyanka Gandhi’s second public meeting in Gwalior. Led by former chief minister Digvijaya Singh, the Congress team worked quite hard to ensure a huge gathering. Sources said that the attendance at the Friday public meeting was over 1 lakh and the response to Priyanka Gandhi was quite enthusiastic.
Gandhi appealed to the people on core issues of price rise and unemployment, added with scams and power-drunk laziness and arrogance of the ruling BJP to ask them to bring back the Congress government in the state with majority votes.
Gandhi said that she felt that it was lack of awareness among people that failed to control the situation. She asked that while the rally was named ‘Jan Aakrosh’ (people’s anger) rally, was the anger about the actual issues or not? “You should ask the leaders why there are so many scams. Why not even 2,000 out of 22,000 announcements made were fulfilled? You should ask why you have to face such a steep price rise and why big industrialists can earn Rs 1,600 crores per day while the farmers are not even able to earn Rs 27.”
“Do you want change or not? Do you want an honest government or not, then you have to remove this government and bring one that could work day and night for your welfare and safe future; especially provide opportunities for the youth to stand on their own feet and finish the atrocities perpetrated on you,” she said.
In her 40 minutes speech, Gandhi spoke on the silence of PM Modi on Manipur violence and infusing politics in the issue when finally he spoke on the horrific viral video; the many scams in MP including the latest Patwari recruitment scam and corruption in Mahakal corridor, the excesses on tribals and dalits, the failure of BJP government to provide succour to people in 18 years and then making announcements for women and youth close to elections and so on.
Gandhi also spoke about the five guarantees of the Congress – old pension scheme, Rs 1,500 monthly cash assistance to women, domestic gas cylinder at Rs 500, 100 units power free and 200 at half tariff and completion of the loan waiver process for farmers. She said that she was confident about the guarantees as the Congress governments in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka were fulfilling the promises made to the people.
She also made a request to MP Congress president Kamal Nath, who was on the dais, to increase the pension for differently-abled people to Rs 1,000 from Rs 600 when the party comes to power, mentioning that some disabled people that she met on the way to the rally had put forth the demand to her. She had got her cavalcade stopped to speak to these differently-abled people.
The Congress leader commenced and ended her speech in the local dialect. In the end she asked people to repeat after her ‘Bhaajapa jaayebe baari hai; Congress aayebe baari hai’ (BJP is set to go; Congress is set to come). Gandhi, along with Nath and other leaders, also released a 'chargesheet' on 18 years of BJP rule in Madhya Pradesh.
In his speech, Kamal Nath reiterated that CM Chouhan was a ‘Machine of lies and scams’ that was working overtime as the elections were getting close. He said that the aim of Congress was to secure the future of Madhya Pradesh and its people. Before the rally, Gandhi also paid respects at the memorial of Rani Laxmi Bai. In her speech, she mentioned the valour of the queen of Jhansi and her impact on people of the region. Gesture on Rani Laxmi Bai was important as the Congress seeks to highlight the 'betrayal of Scindia family to the queen, leading to her defeat and death following the 1857 uprising.
Congress MP in-charge Jai Prakash Agarwal, Rajya Sabha member Digivijaya Singh and Vivek Tankha, leader of opposition Govind Singh, former ministers, MLAs and all senior leaders were present on three separate dais set up on the venue.
