The Amethi Drama: Smriti vs Rahul
May 26, 2015
Let’s draw a parallel between Smriti Irani and Arvind Kejriwal. Both had contested the last general elections, respectively, against the potential prime ministers of the country – Rahul Gandhi of the Congress Party in Amethi, and Narendra Modi of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Varanasi. Both Irani and Kejriwal – despite being popular faces – were political greenhorns at that time although both had tasted some political success in their limited career. While Irani was already a Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat, Kejriwal just had a 49-day stint as Delhi’s chief minister. Both Irani and Kejriwal were rank outsiders in their respective Lok Sabha constituencies. Both gave a decent fight before losing and both stood a credible second against their respective formidable opponents.
Despite their defeats in the general elections, both are ministers today – Smriti is a Union Minister, while Kejriwal is back again as Delhi’s Chief Minister after scripting a phenomenal victory for his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the February 2015 Delhi assembly elections.
Why Does Smriti Irani Stand Out?
This is where the similarities between the two end. What makes Irani stand out is that despite being an imported candidate and in spite of her defeat, she has not shunned Amethi. The same cannot be said about Kejriwal. There have been politicians who chose to contest as rank outsiders but never returned to the constituency after their defeat at the hustings. Thus, the issues that they raked up during canvassing remained confined to the electioneering period only as they never pursued them further.
According to sources, Kejriwal had overruled a suggestion at the party forum by an AAP worker during 2014 general elections that all Lok Sabha candidates of the AAP, even if they got defeated at the hustings, should make a permanent base in that constituency and continue work amidst the people there. There was nothing new in the suggestion as there are examples of political leaders who were parachuted to different constituencies but never returned to the place after losing. There are some other examples too, of a different nature. Consider some prominent leaders – late Indira Gandhi and Atal Bihari Vajpayee (both served as prime ministers) included – who simultaneously contested and won from more than one place only to surrender the less preferred constituency where they never returned as candidates again.
Obviously, Irani cannot be equated with Indira Gandhi or Vajpayee. Yet, today she stands out in the crowd by not shunning Amethi. So what if in last one year she visited the constituency only once? She did send sarees for Amethi women as a Diwali gift!
BJP’s Strategy to Corner Rahul Gandhi in Amethi
It goes without saying that Amethi has been a Gandhi family bastion. Rahul’s father late Rajiv Gandhi had remained undefeated there between 1981 and 1991. Indira Gandhi was called Amethi’s daughter irrespective of the fact that she never contested from there! Yet, on a couple of occasions, Amethi did elect non-Congressmen – Ravindra Pratap Singh (1977-80 – Janata Party) and Sanjay Singh – the scion of the Amethi royal family (1998-99 – BJP).
Irani had lost to Rahul by 107,923 votes, a 12.32% margin in the 2014 elections. Still, why should she hold on to Amethi? That too, at a time when elections are still far away and she might again get elected as a Rajya Sabha MP once her term expires in 2017.
Ostensibly, it is a shrewd strategy by the BJP to corner Rahul on his home turf at a time when he has adopted an overtly aggressive posture against the Central government’s policies, particularly on those related to farmers’ issues.
Rahul’s Neglect of Amethi Constituency
Rahul had been away from his constituency for quite a long period as he preferred to be on a sabbatical for almost a couple of months in some undisclosed foreign land at a time when the Parliament was in session. Remember the ‘Rahul Missing’ posters that cropped up during this period in Amethi?
Even after his return Rahul ignored the farmers of Amethi who, like elsewhere in the country, were affected by the untimely rains and hailstorms. He preferred to travel to other parts of the country – specifically Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha (Maharashtra) and Telangana – to espouse the farmers’ cause in the wake of failed crops due to unseasonal rains. Another objective was to campaign against the Centre’s proposed land acquisition bill that his party considers to be “anti-farmer”.
Smriti Irani’s Confidence-building Measures in Amethi
It is against this background that Smriti’s day-long whirlwind tour of Amethi along with Minister of State for Agriculture Sanjeev Balyan on 12 May should be seen and interpreted. Even though she is neither minister for agriculture (She is HRD minister) nor local parliamentarian, she rushed to Amethi to “assess” crop damage, along with Balyan. At Rahul’s own backyard, she justified the controversial Land Acquisition Bill, referred without naming Robert Vadra as “the biggest property dealer…”, met affected farmers and addressed four Kisan panchayats. She further conveyed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s assurance to the farmers that wheat crop damaged due to unseasonal rain and hailstorm “would be procured in any condition”. Balyan, who accompanied her, took a potshot at Rahul saying, “Rahul was touring Punjab and Telangana to meet farmers but he has not come to Amethi yet, although the condition of farmers is worse here and 13 farmers have died”.
As if this was not enough, Irani assured the people of returning on 26 May again, “MP of Amethi is missing, if he follows my footsteps the people of Amethi might get to see him… I had promised Amethi that I will be with them all the way. I will come back on 26th May”.
Obviously, in this show of one-upmanship, Smriti did succeed to heckle Rahul. He rushed to his constituency soon thereafter on 18 May – for the first time after his long sabbatical – to camp there for three days, apparently, in a damage control exercise. His move to generate some sympathy over the nixed mega food park project in his constituency had not fetched the desired results after the Centre’s claim that the food park project was shelved during the Congress-led UPA regime.
A rattled Rahul accused the Modi government of indulging in “vendetta” politics by treating his parliamentary constituency unfairly, “If you want to extract revenge from me, do it. I have no problem. But the poor and farmers of Amethi have done you no harm. They should be treated well… Be it the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Yojana (PMGSY), the Indira Awas Yojana or other centrally sponsored schemes, Amethi has not been given its due”.
Obviously, Rahul’s defensive reaction speaks volumes of Irani’s calibre and speaks high of the BJP strategy to corner the Congress scion in his home front. As far as Irani is concerned, it augurs well for her to remain in the limelight by taking the battle to the Gandhis’ bastion. At the same time, she cannot be accused like in case of Kejriwal’s, of shunning a parliamentary constituency just after a defeat. However, both of them did attain larger political glory thereafter and neither can be dismissed easily. Rahul, on his part, does realise their worth. Doesn’t he
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