Rahul Gandhi's Mirzapur rally: Locals run away with free cots, again

If you recall, just a week ago, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi confidently defended the farmers after they indulged in fighting to take away free cots from his _khat sabha_ in Deoria . We wonder what he will come up with now that a similar incident has happened for the second time. No, we are not kidding. After Gandhi’s public meeting ended in Mirzapur on Wednesday, locals again ran away with wooden cots (khaats) from the venue. UP: Locals take away wooden cots( Khaats) after Rahul Gandhi’s public meeting in Mirzapur ends pic.twitter.com/lWXRvcXGko

UP: Locals take away wooden cots( Khaats) after Rahul Gandhi's public meeting in Mirzapur ends pic.twitter.com/lWXRvcXGko

— ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) September 14, 2016

The organisers of his campaign seemed to have learnt little after the Deoria incident. They still kept cots for the farmers, however, anticipating similar khat-loot, announcements of “khaat chodke chale jao (Leave without taking the cots)” were made.

Mirzapur: Locals take away wooden cots while announcement says "Khaat chodke chale jao" after RGandhi public meet pic.twitter.com/mDjVquA08J

— ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) September 14, 2016

Unfortunately, they were royally ignored by the farmers, who were also possibly encouraged by Gandhi’s statement. As Firstpost earlier reported, Gandhi said, “Kisan khatiya le jata hai, to wo ‘chor’ kehte hain. Magar jab bade bade udyogpati Mallya jaise bhaag jate hain, toh usse ‘defaulter’ kehte hain (When a farmer takes a cot, he’s called a thief. But when big industrialists like Mallya run away, they are called ‘defaulter’).” He might have to come up with something better this time. [caption id=“attachment_3004534” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Locals running away with cots. PTI[/caption] Gandhi was talking about the failure of the Akhilesh Yadav government in Uttar Pradesh during his public meeting in Mirzapur but it looked like the locals attended his rallies just to take away free cots. Just months before the Assembly elections, “Chunav say kuch maheene pehle Akhilesh cycle theek karna chahtay hain, voh toh hogi nai (Just months before the elections, Yadav wants to repair the cycle (mascot of Samajwadi Party).” Referring to Tuesday’s incident of Yadav taking away key ministerial berths from his uncle Shivpal Yadav, Gandhi said that “Tyre of the cycle is already punctured, yesterday Akhilesh Yadav ji threw the wheel out.”

Tyre of cycle is already punctured, yesterday Akhilesh Yadav ji threw the wheel out: Rahul Gandhi pic.twitter.com/KBSxwXdorK

— ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) September 14, 2016

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Gandhi, however, seems unperturbed by this and has been gleefully continuing his month-long Kisan Yatra. The organisers should have taken our earlier advice: Please be careful of what you put on the stage this time. This incident also reminds us of what George Santayana once famously said: Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.