Nehru-Gandhi Family charm vanishes

Anil Narendra

Assembly election results for five States have been disappointing for the Congress Party on the one hand, and on the other these have proved a high voltage shock for the Nehru-Gandhi family. When asked about her reactions, the Congress President Sonia Gandhi told media on Wednesday that wrong selection of candidates and weak Party organization in UP led to the miserable performance of the Party. She said that defeat and victory are the way of life; we have lost Rai Bareilly and Amethi seats earlier also, etc. Meanwhile, her son Rahul Gandhi has accepted the responsibility for Party's election debacle. If it is a normal defeat, then question arises as to why a review is required? If Rahul has taken the responsibility, then the matter almost ends, but the question which was not replied to by Sonia Gandhi, is still there – does this defeat indirectly impact the Nehru-Gandhi family? The Congress has thrown in its present and future in UP. Rahul shouldered the election campaign, whereas the entire Gandhi-Wadra family (including children) entered the fight to save the family fort of Amethi-Rai Bareilly. People have completely rejected Nehru-Gandhi-Wadra family in Uttar Pradesh. Despite Rahul Gandhi's herculean efforts, the Congress has returned to the position of 2007 in UP. On the other hand, in the areas where Priyanka along with her husband and children took the command of the electioneering, the Congress had difficulty in saving its face. Rahul Gandhi organized more than 200 rallies. Sonia Gandhi also addressed many rallies. Party might have been able to secure more seats than 22 Assembly seats in 2007, but if we compare these with the Lok Sabha elections of 2009, then it would be sufficiently worrisome for Congress and Rahul Gandhi himself. The Rahul wave had been totally ineffective in UP and it is a bad omen for the Congress. When the elections in all these five States are being considered as the semi-final for power in the 2014 General Elections, the big jolt, that the Party has received in other States excepting Manipur, is an indication of people's apathy towards the UPA government at the Centre, especially  for the Congress.  Another shock for the Congress is the fact that the young SP leader Akhilesh has outweighed Rahul Gandhi who had been championing the cause of youths.  In fact, it would not be wrong to say that for the present, Mulayam Singh family has outweighed the Nehru-Gandhi family.  Not only the youth would be cause of concern for the Congress, but it would have to worry about Muslim votes, which have gone en masse in favour of Samajwadi Party, whereas the Congress leaders had left no stone unturned to win these votes. The blow to charismatic image of Rahul Gandhi in UP after Bihar, has led to concern in the Party. The UP election results have, however, confirmed that the magic of Nehru-Gandhi family has faded. Rahul had, with great fanfare entered into an alliance with the Rashtriya Lok Dal of Ajit Singh, but it did not prove beneficial to the Party. Performance of the Congress in Amethi-Rai Bareilly, considered to be the stronghold for Nehru-Gandhi family, has been a big blow for the Party, as in the last elections, it had secured 7 out of 10 seats in the area, when Mayawati tsunami had hit the area. This time, loosing all the five assembly seats in the parliamentary constituency of Sonia Gandhi and securing just two seats in the Rahul Gandhi parliamentary constituency and clean sweep in the district Sultanpur are the personal defeats for the Nehru-Gandhi family. Rahul Gandhi had left no stone unturned in the electioneering in the UP Assembly elections. He stayed continuously in UP for 46 days and held 211 rallies and 18 big road shows. No doubt, Rahul Gandhi has accepted the responsibility for this embarrassing defeat, but other Congress leaders, however, are not prepared to accept it as a defeat for the Nehru-Gandhi family. Boastful General Secretary Digvijay Singh has welcomed these results and called these the defeat of corrupt BSP. This is another thing that during the elections, Congress had targeted SP rather than BSP. The Party also lost on the Phulpur Lok Sabha seat  near Allahabad, of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi seat of Rai Berreilly, Amethi seat of Sanjay Gandhi and Rajeev Gandhi. It appears that the party organizers got an inkling of Party's weaker position. That is why Priyanka was brought here, but Party failed to open its account in Sonia Gandhi parliamentary constituency. The way the people of the area have rejected the Nehru-Gandhi family, will have far reaching impact on the Centre.