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A file photo of the Congress, the General Secretary of Priyanka Gandhi. (PTI)
No matter who ends up getting the upper hand in the face of the ‘1,000 buses’, the Congress led by Priyanka Gandhi in the state has managed to build a campaign on the plight of migrant workers.
- CNN-News18 Lucknow
- Last Update: May 20, 2020, 5:12 PM IST
The apparent political break of more than a month, in the midst of the lockout seems to have ended as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttar Pradesh has entered into a bitter war of words with the opposition of Congress on the issue of buses for the transportation of migrant workers.
However, in the midst of this ongoing political slugfest, the writing on the wall is clear. The grand old party with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to lead the charge in the state seems to be more cunning that the strongest of regional outfits, Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party, to occupy all the space of the political opposition. Ride the bus, to the Congress, for the time being, has clearly accelerated ahead of the cycle and the jumbo in the marathon, 2022.
So, beyond who is right and who is wrong in the course of the fight of more than 1,000 buses’, the fact is that the Congress, in large measure has succeeded in creating a political campaign in the difficult situation of migrant workers. All this, while the key opposition parties SP and BSP have been completely absent from the scene..
For the Congress, this accumulation has not come out of nothing. Immediately after the first few days of the emergency, Priyanka, the party’s general secretary in charge of this ABOVE, had been busy working on a strategy. Just two days after the national security lockout and entered into force on the 25th of March, she was gone in a videoconference with their state leaders of the unit, the delivery of the task of organizing soup kitchens for people in danger.
On the same day, she also wrote her first letter to chief of security of the cathedral of Yogi Adityanath, making a number of suggestions about the steps needed to help daily wage workers, farmers and other poor people. The letter also expressed the desire on the part of the Congress party to be a volunteer in the relief and assistance operations.
Since then, the state Congress unit came forward the organization of a round-the-clock community kitchen in their office in Lucknow and in other parts of the state. Priyanka continued to monitor the work through regular interaction with the leaders of his party.
So, what was the Congress of the strategy? A former student leader, now a part of the central team for assistance Priyanka, says, “We and our leader were all genuinely concerned about the plight of the poor, migrant workers and the huge gap between the government claims and realities on the ground.”
The leader of the young people who are not willing to be named, however, also supports the political rationality behind the activism. “As a political party, it is natural to work for the people, serve them, and to expand the policy of our country. The Congress had always stood for the poor and oppressed. We are trying to do the same, even during the lockout time, when millions of people have lost their livelihoods and are struggling to return home.”
The Congress says Priyanka Gandhi’s interest is not new. “During the elections of Lok Sabha, Priyanka had promised not to let UP. She is standing to his commitment. We are left with the poor tribles when they were massacred in Sonbhadra. We are with the poor now, when they have been ignored by the government,” the party’s state spokesman Amarnath Agarwal said .
During the period of the emergency, in comparison with BSP supremo Mayawati and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, Priyanka was clearly more active, firing off at least four letters to the chief minister. All those expressing the desire to be part of the relief operations. The climax of the intervention came with Priyanka written for the delivery of the 1,000 buses to take migrant workers back to the state with the expenses to be borne by your party.
A close observer of the making of the policy, senior journalist Sharat Pradhan recalls, “Is not the first time that in the recent past that Priyanka has to outsmart both Mayawati and Akhilesh. The case of the Sonbhadra massacre or the rape and burning of a girl in Unnao, Prianka has taken the lead. The same has been the case in the middle of the lock. Despite being a minor part in comparison with the SP and BSP, the Congress has taken a clear lead as the opposition party. If these efforts pay off in the battle of the state elections in 2022 remains to be seen, but it certainly helps in the construction of a perception.”
As far as CM Yogi Adityananth and the BJP is concerned, have clearly helped to bring the center of attention once more on Priyanka and the Congress party. Leaving aside the debate of merit and of demerit, which is good and which is bad in the ‘bus war’, the focus remains clearly in the Congress of the movement. The buses can sit idly by, but the discomfort of the ruling BJP, the plight of migrant workers continues to be driven forward.
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