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Rajiv in Amethi, but misses VIP status
AMETHI (Indi*). Apr 20 : Pramod. Inko blthao. yell* Mr Rajiv Gandhi. Mr Pramod Tiwari, chief whip of the Congreasd) legislature party in Uttar Pradesh and former mln foter makes a valiant effort but trying to quieten the noisy and excited bunch of primary school children who had gathered al Bahadurpur block. Finding Mr Tiwari helpless. Mr Rajiv Gandhi takes over, much In the manner of a vet eran school teacher, reports UNI.
Bahadurpur block, near FursatganJ market Is the starting point of Mr Gandhi s three-day tour of his constituency, according to the agenda distributed by the Congress(I) president's campaign managers. Mr Gandhi Is scheduled to have a "a meeting with party workers of Bahadurpur block" but the faces around bore scant resemblance to party workers. Mediamen who had been tailing' Mr Gandhi from the moment he got down from his chartered King Air at FursatganJ airport with wife Sonia are told by trusted lieutenant. Captain Satish Sharma, that though the visit Is meant to be a series of block-level meetings with the party cadres, the people's uncontrollable enthusiasm at seeing the man who changed the face of Amethl meant party workers had to vie with the public for the boss’ attention. And so it
After the Initial bout of pleasantries with the school children, Mr Gandhi launches enthusiastically Into his pet theme — "sthir sarkar”. "The real issue in Amethl is development. But how can you have development without stability. All the development projects here have been stalled. We have to get Amethi back on the rails. Today every man is crushed by prices. Even those who had risen above the poverty line have been once again pushed under. Why Is it like this ? There is no drought. In 1987 there was a terrible drought and yet things were not as bad as today.
At one level, prices are going up, and at another, all the poverty-eradication projects have been stalled. Our country yis getting weaker and weaker.
Look at Iraq." They are being pressurised to stop research on certain fronts. Tomorrow, we could be subject to arm-twisting also. Today we have to answer tow questions — how can we set Amethi on the road to progress once again, and second, how can we make our country strong. If the country remains backward, Amethl cannot go forward And then, what looks to be the favoured slogan : "Malham la-gana hai, ansupochna hat " (we need the healing touch, we need to wipe the tears).” The local block pramukh nods in assent. "Sort out the next meeting" Mr Gandhi says, turning towards Mr Satish Sharma and the "captain" rushes out. Onto the next stop, with Mr Gandhi at the steering wheel of his white Gypsy (the plastic key chain dangling from the ignition point has the cryptic massage "It you don’t like the way I drive, then stay off the sidewalk)*, Mrs Sonia Gandhi by his side and entourage of security guards, local Congress(I) heavyweights, video crews and other assorted mediamen following. With security a mere shadow of what it used to be when he was Prime Minister, he takes the highway, and then the lanes and by lanes. En route he stops, chats with groups of people waiting to have a darshan' by the wayside and tell him personally their woes and travails now that Amethi no longer enjoys the privileged status of being the prime min -isterial constituency, "I have never seen him so relaxed", says Captain Satish Shanna.
While the twin, turbulent issues of manda! and masjid form the sum and substance of the discourse of political pundits trailing Mr Gandhi, the people waiting in the scorching heat enduring dust and thirst for a word with Mr Gandhi are concerned more with themes of survival. "Most of the petitions we are getting relate to problems of drinking water, power, roads. A common problem is pensions for widows. We have got many complaints from widows, many from the Muslim community, that they are not getting their pensions," says Mrs Pramila Kapoor, an aide to Mrs Sonia Gandhi who has been given the task of jotting down all complaints at each place that Mr Gandhi stops.
The problems are predictably more acute in the villages but even in Amethi town the mood is sullen. Once much envied as the constituency which does not elect a mere member of Parliament, but a Prime Minster. Amethi has fallen on bad days. "Wherever we went, people looked at us with awe when they learnt we were residents of Amethi. We felt proud. Today the situation is different. All the development work which had been started have been stalled. The central government subsidy to industries in Amethi have been reduced. The three hide power sub stations which were installed earlier are yet to become operational,' says a shopkeeper in the market place of Amethi town.
"None of the government officials pays any heed to the public now. Earlier, because it was the Prime Minister's interests which were involved, things moved, even if people did them out of fear," says Abdul Rehman, a radio mechanic. Paras Nath, a salesman at a clothstore in Amethi town points out that in the days when Mr Gandhi was in power, outdoor patients at the Sanjay Gandhi Hospital at Munshiganj (part of Amethi parliamentary constituency) enjoyed much more facilities. "Patients were X-rayed.T-oday all those who need X-rays are referred to other places. Earlier we could get the medicines at OPD. Today we have top buy them from the open market. Corruption is much more prevalent. And all around there is slackness.'
At Amethi, whether in the urban pockets or in the villages, there is really only one issue — the people want to get back their privileged status of being residents of a Prime Ministerial constituency.
He and Mrs Sonia Gandhi stop and eat khlr with the pradhan of Dariya village, toss back the flowers showered by children, pat babies clinging onto the arms of mothers. Certain sections ofcourse get the special treatment.
At Mohna, they stop at the house of the local chowdhury, Anwar Hussain. Much to the delight of video crews In attendance. Mr Gandhi releases pigeons (painted in the Congress tricolour supposedly). On the second day of his visit he attends a roza iftar party.
The local Congrcss(l) MLA, Haji Wasim makes a valiant bid to bolster Mr Gandhi's image among the public which has gathered. The mood is not very pro-Congress(I), going by stray remarks of the audience and oflate there had been anti Mr Gandhi propaganda, confides a party insider to this correspondent.