With the sheen lost in her speech and same old grief-laden words, it was nothing different for the audience than an average rally.
Poll-bound Chhatisgarh held two big rallies today with two big leaders fighting to win its people at the same place. While Congress president Sonia Gandhi addressed the janata at Kondagaon of Bastar, Bhartiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi tried to win hearts in Jagdalpur of the same district.
Launching an attack on Raman Singh-led BJP government in Chhattisgarh over law and order situation, Sonia reminded people of the May 25 Maoist ambush in Bastar that had wiped out almost the entire Congress leadership.
“So many people were killed in the Naxal violence. My colleagues in Congress sacrificed their life. We are today feeling their absence in a big way today,” she said.
A convoy of Congress leaders in Jagdalpur district was attacked by Maoists on May 25. The attack killed party’s senior leader Mahendra Karma and injured former union minister V C Shukla.
The bodies of PCC chief Nand Kumar Patel and his son were later found in the forests.
It is to be noted that doing politics dabbed in emotion has become Congress’ trademark now with party’s star campaigner Rahul Gandhi playing to it in in his every public appearance.
Sonia too tried to do that as her party makes desperate attempts to get hold of the Maoist-hit Bastar region which has been BJP’s stronghold.
Accusing the ruling Raman Singh led BJP government of bad-governance she said that the center has always provided support to the state government. She said that many areas in the Maoist-hit regions lack even appropriate roads. “These people only talk big things, where as Congress does the work,” she said.
None of the Congress talk should be complete without their “food” politics. Here too, Sonia tried to play the food to poor card. Stressing that UPA’s focus is on “development with pro-poor face”, Gandhi said Congress wants development of the country but that should take place along with development of weaker sections”. She claimed that despite the schemes by UPA like MNREGA to check distress migration in search of livelihood, people of Chhattisgarh are compelled to go out of the state.
With Modi as a challenger, nothing ends without a talk on communalism and country dividing measures perceived by the Congress party in its own capacity. Sonia accused BJP of practising “divisive” politics here too. She said, “While the BJP wants to pit one brother against another, we want to take everybody along and connect people”.
She urged voters “not to fall in the trap of false promises by anyone” and ensure a Congress government in the state remembering the latter’s history and its contribution to the country’s development.
With the sheen lost in her speech and same old grief-laden words, it was nothing different for the audience than an average rally.
