Politics

Priyanka Vadra’s arrest reminiscences the Belchi visit of her grand mother

Published

5 years ago

July 20, 2019

Sunil Negi

Read Time: 5 minutes

The arbitrary arrest of Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi heading for Sonbhadra yesterday i.e. 19th July to meet the bereaved families and the grievously injured victims of massacre of 12 innocents of Gond community by a landlord village head Yagya Dutt and his goons who came on 32 tractors killing and injuring several poor villagers has created an immense anger, annoyance, disenchantment and furore amongst the Congress leaders and rank and file at the pan India level with hundreds of workers thronging the arrest site in Chunar to express their solidarity with their leader thus helping in reviving and regenerating a new lease of life in a non functional Congress party after the desperate resignation of her brother Rahul Gandhi as Congress chief taking the responsibility of the election debacle on his head.

You may recall that Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi was arrested on 19th July when she was peacefully protesting after having been restricted by the UP administration to meet the injured and the bereaved families of the diabolical Sonbhadra massacre.

Priyanka’s visit reminds me of the similar visit of her grandmother, former prime minister Indira Gandhi to Belchi, Bihar during the Janata Party rule after 1977 when several Dalits were massacred by the higher caste landlords creating quite a ripple and sensation in the national and international media and political circles as well.

Late Mrs Gandhi was then out of power, having lost her own Lok Sabha seat from Rai Bareilly to late Raj Narain, the then health minister in the govt of Janata Party conglomeration.

She had visited Belchi climbing on an elephant to know the welfare and well being of the bereaved family.

Her Belchi visit was so popularised in the media that it, later on, resulted in her coming back to power at the centre defeating badly the conglomeration of the 22 national political outfits called the Janata Party that ruled for merely 22 months and tore apart like the pack of cards.

Priyanka Gandhi’s visit to Sonbhadra seems to repeat the episode of her grand mother’s Belchi, Bihar visit during Janata Party era earning the sympathy of the Dalits and have nots all over the country.

In a democratic country can’t a peace-loving leader of a national party visit the victims of the massacre to know about their well being asked Priyanka Gandhi before her being arrested.

This raises a question that the UP CM Yogi Aditya Nath and the BJP leadership is highly apprehensive of the increasing political popularity and clout of Priyanka Gandhi who seems to be the next leader in the making in Congress Party after Rahul Gandhi’s resignation.

Voices within and outside the Congress have already started emerging in favour of Sonia Gandhi to make her the Congress president.

The way Priyanka sat on the Dharna in protest yesterday while heading for Sonbhadra after having been forbidden to do so on the bare ground with her supporters and arrested later on, reminiscences of her grandmother again when she during the Janata Party rule in 1978 also sat on the road after having been arrested and paraded on foot while late Choudhary Charan Singh was the home minister in Morarji Desai’s tenure as PM while handcuffed.

Mrs Gandhi had thereafter returned to power with a thumping majority, gaining the sympathy of the people nationwide.

Political analysts say that by repeating the same blunder through vindictive politics, the present political dispensation in Uttar Pradesh and at the centre is not only opening the doors for the revival and rejuvenation of Congress Party at the national level but also giving leverage/ impetus to the anti-opposition forces under Congress party to unite thus able to forge a formidable challenge to it in the future.

The Congressmen and the people see in Priyanka Gandhi a shadow of late Indira Gandhi, a formidable leader of international eminence credited for dividing Pakistan in 1971, creating Bangladesh whom even the former prime minister, the then opposition leader late Atal Bihari Vajpayee publicly accorded the title of Durga Maa.

Meanwhile, Congressmen from all over the country are converging at Varanasi and Sonbhadra to express solidarity with there arrested leader who was holed up in the guest house whole night under arrest.

Rahul Tweeted: The arbitrary arrest of Priyanka Gandhi in Sonbhadra is disturbing. This arbitrary application of power to prevent her from meeting the 10 families of Adivasi farmers brutally gunned down for refusing to vacate their own lands reveals the BJP government’s increasing insecurity in UP.

At the same time hopefully, Congress wants to support the bereaved families sincerely and this is not a publicity stunt by them where they want to leverage this unfortunate incident to their advantage. As after the Photo Op and Dharna drama is over Mrs Vadra has gone back to her daily life.

Related Topics:Indira Gandhi Priyanka Gandhi vadra Priyanka Vadra's arrest reminiscences the Belchi visit of her grand mother

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Sunil Negi

Sunil Negi hails from Uttarakhand and is a veteran journalist and author. He is a prolific writer and has carved a name for himself in the media world. He received the 'Golden Achiever Award' in the '90th AIAC Excellence Awards 2019' for his book ''Havoc in Heaven'' based on the tragedy that struck Uttarakhand in which thousands of people lost their lives. He is also the President of Uttarakhand Journalists Forum and majorly writes on Politics, Current Affairs, and Social Issues.