Congress in UP: Has it finally got the Priyanka it needed?

Priyanka Gandhi's struggles in Lakhimpur Kheri could rejuvenate the Congress, but she should camp in UP

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi seems to have taken up the uphill but much-desired task of bringing a dormant Congress party back to life in the country's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, where it has been out of power for 32 years.

It may be too much to assume that the party will get anywhere close to returning to power. But Priyanka Gandhi's sustained efforts could put the party back on its feet in a state where it was reduced to a paltry seven seats (out of 403) in the last Assembly elections in 2017 and just one seat (out of UP's 80) in the Lok Sabha polls of 2019.

The Lakhimpur Kheri violence earlier this month on October 4, which took eight lives, including that of four farmers run brutally over by an SUV, allegedly at the behest of ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporters, has come in handy for Priyanka Gandhi to show her real mettle now.

Until now, Priyanka Gandhi, the party's general secretary in charge for UP, had failed to deliver because of her restrained visits to the state. Even after being entrusted with the responsibility, she could not keep her word that she would permanently camp on the soil of UP. Neither she nor Jyotiraditya Scindia, who was given charge of another half of UP, were not visible on the ground. Sure enough, that got reflected in the abysmal result in the Lok Sabha polls.

Also read: Members of farmers' body detained in Lucknow for trying to burn effigies of PM Modi, Shah

Taking a cue from that, Priyanka Gandhi has decided to take the bull by its horns this time. What she has already done quite instinctively has earned her the sobriquet of a "street-fighter." It is something no prominent Congressman has shown over the past many years.

She was the first politician to make a serious attempt to reach Lakhimpur Kheri, no sooner than news broke out about the killings of farmers. She was followed by the police right from the time she landed at the Lucknow airport. On reaching her relative's house, where she camps in Lucknow, the cops piled up outside the gate and made it clear that she could not visit Lakhimpur Kheri.

About an hour later, as it grew dark, she sneaked out of the bungalow from the back gate, walked more than 500 metres to board a waiting car that drove her to the national highway leading to Lakhimpur Kheri. Once the police realised she had hoodwinked them, a cat and mouse chase began. Cops stopped all traffic at a toll barrier on NH-24, where they started checking vehicles to find Priyanka Gandhi. Here she switched from her SUV into a small car, a strategy that worked. While the police checked only SUVs and other big vehicles, the small car drove away unchecked.

What she did thereafter was to take a detour through rural roads instead of the main highway. However, after covering a good 60 km, the police finally intercepted and took her into custody. She withstood a night-long ordeal, following which she was deposited at a government guest house in Sitapur that was formally declared as a "temporary jail" around 4.30 am on October 5.

Also read: BJP leader accuses Ajay Mishra of being behind Lakhimpur violence

For more than two days, she fought relentlessly against the denial of permission to move on to Lakhimpur Kheri, after which the government gave in. Thousands of suddenly reactivated Congress workers had gathered outside the guest house protesting her arrest. Once the state government yielded, even other opposition leaders who had also demanded to visit Lakhimpur Kheri were allowed to proceed. She scored over all others. Samajwadi Party chief, the former UP chief minister, Akhilesh Yadav, followed suit only the next day.

As if she works on instinct, Priyanka Gandhi's reaction to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's condescending remark about her sweeping the floor of the guest house room where the police detained her silenced the chief minister. "She is incapable of doing anything other than sweeping floors," was Adityanath's curt remark to Priyanka Gandhi's video that went viral. She retorted, "Yogi Adityanath's remark against my sweeping reflects his anti-Dalit mentality; he considers sweeping a demeaning act, which shows his mindset."

Priyanka Gandhi did not stop there. Three days later, on her return to Lucknow, she went to a local Dalit locality and personally swept the floor of a Valmiki temple there. She also announced that all district Congress chiefs would sweep in Dalit localities in their respective towns. Many see this streak in her as somewhat reminiscent of her grandmother Indira Gandhi.

These episodes have recharged the Congress rank and file, no matter how few they might be. She is, however, hobbled by the lack of an active and widespread party organisation, which she is now trying to rebuild. Though it may be rather late in the day to start that exercise, since state elections are barely four months away, still the effort is not likely to go to waste.

Priyanka Gandhi has found yet another way to inject some life into the party and its workers. She got four small booklets prepared with crisp content to counter the malicious campaign undertaken by the BJP and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) over the years to run down the Congress leadership.

Also read: Madhya Pradesh BJP leaders send air tickets to Rahul, Priyanka to visit Rajasthan

One of the booklets, Hum Congress ke log – dushprachar aur sach, talks about several Congress leaders involved in the freedom movement. Another booklet, Bharat aur Bhartiyata ke khilaf RSS aur BJP, attempts to expose the role of several saffron leaders whose "acts were against the fundamental ethos of Indianess and nationalism." A third booklet has facts on the first and second waves of Covid-19 and its alleged mismanagement by the Narendra Modi government.

The fourth booklet, Kisne bigara Uttar Pradesh, points to the alleged scams during the different BJP regimes, besides such schemes of these governments that were potentially against farmers, youth as also the economically weak and downtrodden in the society.

While no Congress leaders made such efforts in many years, what remains to be seen is the impact of bringing the party out of the woods in the crucial March 2022 state elections.

(The writer is a journalist based in Lucknow)