Rahul's roadshow: Why Congress is no pushover in Varanasi

Varanasi: The Aam Aadmi Party has been crying itself hoarse about how they are the ones taking the fight against Narendra Modi down to the wire in Varanasi; Rahul Gandhi’s road show on Saturday may just make them shout louder than before. The holy city of Varanasi has been the centre of attention for the past month, especially when Arvind Kejriwal decided to become the unguided missile that started hurtling towards BJP’s prime ministerial candidate’s efforts to move out of Gujarat and project himself as a popular, pan India leader. But the Congress believes otherwise, the silence of their candidate Ajay Rai could well make the difference in this high octane election. [caption id=“attachment_1517349” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Rahul Gandhi during his roadshow in Varanasi along with Congress candidate Ajay Rai. PTI[/caption] Rai was the last man to jump into the fray and has been going about his campaign in his own quiet style. And if anyone had doubts about his ability as a crowd puller, it was put to rest on the last day of campaigning. The AAP will be watching the Rahul Gandhi road show closely because it started in predominantly Muslim areas and the warmth of the locals was there for everyone to see. The crowd gathered stretched to almost a kilometre when it was flagged off at Pilikothi area. Rahul Gandhi had every reason to smile, and why not. He has an axe to grind against Modi, especially after his speech in Amethi last Monday. The point that Rai tried to make to the media was also not lost when the late Shehnai maestro Ustad Bismillah Khan’s family members played Shehnai during the show of strength. Even though they may not endorse any political party openly, they had even declined Modi’s offer to be his proposer but the message has been conveyed. “Varanasi has seen almost every neta of the country come here asking for votes for some candidate or the other. But I think a lot of people would be thinking of voting for Ajay Rai” says Mohd Ashfaq, a local resident. “Jhadu (AAP) has been campaigning hard, but in the end it’s about who can take on the BJP,” he adds. AAP’s high profile campaign has made it look like it’s a two-way contest between the BJP and the AAP, but no local is willing to write off the Congress. Not so much because of the party, but more so because of their candidate. “Modi has come here three or four times during the entire campaign, he will come even lesser times after the election is over,” reacts Ajay Rai. “He talks about building a dam and other fancy things for the ghats, nothing will happen. He doesn’t understand the local mood.” Rai has strategically allowed the BJP and the AAP to hog the limelight in national media, while his team has relied on locals campaigning by word of mouth. The underlying theme of his campaign is built around the “outsider vs local” battle in Kashi. Two weeks ago, it looked as if the Congress had lost the plot. Kejriwal had adopted the “Delhi” model of campaigning where each worker meets each family at least three times during the entire campaign. It had done wonders for them in Delhi last year, and their campaign managers claim to have touched around three lakh households in Varanasi. The Congress high command in Delhi was wondering whether they did the right thing by choosing Ajay Rai over other high profile names. As Rahul Gandhi paid tribute to Pt Madan Mohan Malaviya’s statue at the Banaras Hindu University on Saturday, the patience has paid off for them now. The BJP has already cried foul over Modi being denied permission to hold a rally in Beniyabagh, even though he did take out a road show on Friday. BJP has termed the allowing of Rahul’s road show as smacking of political motive. “Why was a roads how permitted when our candidate (Modi) was denied permission in the same area?” asked Arun Jaitley, senior leader of BJP who was also present during the dharna outside BHU to protest against Election Commission’s decision not to grant permission to Modi to hold a rally. Congressmen see it as desperation on BJP’s part. Staying with the central theme of Ajay Rai, senior Congress leaders hailed Saturday’s road show as historic. “Rahulji’s Jan Sampark programme in Varanasi a huge success. Like the candidate, the participants are also local residents,” tweeted Ajay Maken, senior leader and in charge of the party’s communication department. The AAP’s campaign has kept its focus on how both the BJP and the Congress are promoting crony capitalism, and Rahul Gandhi touched the same raw nerve of BJP in Varanasi. “45,000 acres of land in Gujarat has been given to an industrialist by Modi. He gave them agricultural land at the rate of Rs 1 per square metre, but when it came to the Indian Air Force, he was demanding thousands of rupees for the same land” Rahul said as he launched a scathing attack on BJP’s PM candidate. The Congress is hoping that these allegations will stick to the BJP, while they can slip out due to the fact that they have a local candidate to help them counter it. Though most consider Modi as already having won the election, and that has the BJP worried as they want people to come out and vote in large numbers. The main fight will be given by the party that can convince the almost three lakh plus Muslim community about their intentions. People do feel that AAP has a good agenda, but they are yet to be convinced. Kejriwal realises this more than anyone else, and almost the entire AAP is present in Kashi doing the same. Ajay Rai is no novice either, the local MLA has made sure that Mukhtar Ansari (Qaumi Ekta Dal) has supported the Congress, and that has given him the advantage over Kejriwal. With the local tag and an endorsement from Mukhtar (lost by 17,000 votes in 2009) has put him ahead in the race, what else could explain the huge turnout in what can be termed one of Rahul Gandhi’s best road shows in these elections.