Why calling Sonia's rally massive won't make it a massive success

There is something in a name.

Narendra Modi holds a Hunkar Rally.

But Sonia Gandhi holds something called a “Massive Rally”. At least that’s what it says on the Delhi Pradesh Congress’ printed invitation cards to Sonia Gandhi’s big rally in Shashtri Park in east Delhi on Sunday.

It clearly reflects the Congress’ size-anxiety. Rahul Gandhi’s Delhi rally made the Congress jittery. So for Sonia, they put the rally’s main objective front and square in its very title.

Elections are not won as a result of rallies. But Sonia Gandhi probably should not play size games with Narendra Modi. The 15,000 or so packed into the dusty grounds at Shashtri Park in a sort of orange-green-and-white holding pen cannot hope to match the visual spectacle of the swarming crowds at the humungous Japanese Park in Delhi’s Rohini neighbourhood for Narendra Modi’s maiden rally in Delhi in September. The BJP claimed between 3 to 5 lakhs showed up for that rally though others put the number at closer to 2 lakh .

The BJP rally was all about projecting a larger-than-life Modi – the 100 foot cutout of the man looming over the crowds, the giant projection screens on either side of the stage, the deafening conch shell chorus to greet him. By comparison the Congress rally feels tame, rather wanna-be. The stage looks like a box. The announcer pleads with security to allow more people in to hear Sonia as she gets ready to speak. Before Madam arrives the crowd is fed tidbits about her progress just as the Modi crowd was fed a steady dose about his movements. Bahut jaldi Sonia Gandhi paunchnewali hain. (Sonia Gandhi is scheduled to reach very soon). Sonia-ji has left her home. Sonia-ji is at the Yamuna bridge. The progress of Sonia Gandhi generates obedient applause but doesn’t exactly set the crowd on fire.

However that does not mean there is any lack of curiosity about seeing Sonia herself. A young boy in his early teens queuing up to enter the grounds with his friends says he is coming because he’s never seen Sonia. “I won’t go without seeing her,” he says with a grin. A group of women sits on the grass outside the venue. They live in an apartment complex nearby and have come to the rally to see Sonia but were too late to get in. So they sit outside and listen to what they can while watching boys play cricket amidst the parked television vans. Congress workers with daubs of orange, green and white on their cheeks, waving inflated tubes in national colours, pose happily for cameras. “Topi lagao (put on your cap)” one Congressman admonishes another as they spot cameras pointed at them.

The Congress has left no stone unturned to pack in the crowds. On the road leading to the rally, a Congress van parked outside a chicken market blares rally propaganda as volunteers hand out Congress visors to passersby. At the rally grounds, several hours before the rally begins, Congress workers in white, complete with Nehru caps and an orange-white-green sash knotted around their necks, march by in little groups, representing various neighbourhoods and assembly districts, shouting Sonia Gandhi zindabad. It all has the feel of a march past at the school sports event.The bored media waiting for someone to get the mysterious “communication” to let them in ask the marchers to stop and pose."Itna jaldi kya hain? (What’s the hurry?)" a cameraman says. “Sonia Gandhi won’t be here for hours.”

“I have seen air conditioned buses coming in from UP packed with supporters,” a security officer tells me. The officer, who lives in North Delhi’s Rohini neighbourhood, shrugs and says all these rallies are just show anyway. The night before the election, parties will just roll out the alcohol, distribute the money and then take the happily hungover citizenry to the polling booth and tell them to stamp on their symbol.

The problem with a high profile campaigner like Sonia Gandhi is that there are so many security personnel milling around in camouflage uniforms, with walkie talkies, barking orders into the phone, the rally struggles to project any feeling of spontaneity. It’s unavoidable. The spectre of Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination is never far away. “No gifts, no mementoes, no bouquets,” a security officer tells his subordinates. “Remember it just took some flowers that time.”

While Sonia’s foes make fun of her stilted Hindi, for Congress supporters, it’s actually endearing that she makes the effort. Making speeches does not come naturally to her. She comes across as rather prim schoolmistress. She sticks firmly to her script. Her voice quavers, sounds almost plaintive until the final Jai Hind which she delivers with sudden verve. She does not have Narendra Modi’s penchant for the sly wisecrack. Yet she tries gamely.

Haath kangan ko aarsi kya she said rather awkwardly, almost hesitantly trying out an alien idiom about what’s already visible not needing a mirror. The crowd laughs indulgently. It’s different from the roars of glee that one of Narendra Modi’s jabs can produce but no less genuine.

Yet in the end, the problem is noone remembered exactly what she says. They came to see her, not necessarily hear her. Fakirchand Munde, a Congress worker from the Gandhinagar vidhan sabha constituency, has come to the rally on crutches. He lost his leg to illness years ago. He says Sonia’s speech was badhia (excellent) but when asked which part was the most badhia, he is at a loss. Perhaps all that about Delhi and its vikaas (development) he says after some hesitation. Suraj Yadav, standing outside the venue, says he liked the speech but cannot pinpoint what he liked about it. At the Modi rally, his supporters happily parroted back reams of his speech. Yadav says he will vote for the Congress because they had made his colony pukki (permanent).

Yadav has a point. Elections, in the final reckoning are won, on the basis of promises made, promises kept, and promises believed. As the rally melts into the afternoon sun, across the city near Jantar Mantar, another rally, a much smaller one gets moving with colourful balloons, rainbow flags, and drummers. It is Delhi’s sixth lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender pride rally. Activist Gautam Bhan revs up the crowd reminding them the rally is about both pride and protest. This year we broke the holy seal and walked on Janpath he says. Next year, Rajpath. The crowd cheers back lustily. What do want? He shouts. Azaadi (freedom), the crowd roars back. It is a smaller crowd but a far more enthusiastic one than the “massive rally” at Shastri Park. At least everyone at the Jantar Mantar rally clearly wanted to be there. That’s sometimes more important than the head count.