On Sunday, the Congress party scored a self-goal by sharing a video of Gandhi-scion Priyanka Gandhi listing out the failures of her father, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, during his tenure as a member of parliament from Amethi.
The Congress party tweeted a video of Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi, in which she was heard listing out how her father had failed Amethi voters as people often questioned and scolded him for not delivering on promises.
Speaking at an election rally in Ghazipur ahead of the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, Priyanka Gandhi recalled the days of her father, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi as the Prime Minister. She said Rajiv Gandhi used to take her on a jeep to visit Uttar Pradesh villages. Rajiv Gandhi was also the Member of Parliament representing Amethi. He got elected from the seat after his brother Sanjay Gandhi, also representing Amethi, died in a plane accident.
The Gandhi-scion claimed that her father visited the houses of the voters, ‘even poor people’, in Amethi, who not only affectionately called him Rajiv Bhaiya, but also questioned him on unfulfilled promises. She claimed the ‘poor’ people used to ask questions and scold him about roads, electricity, education.
मेरे पिताजी PM थे, वो खुद जीप चलाते हुए गाँव-गाँव जाते थे और लोग उन्हें अपने घर ले जाते थे।
— Congress (@INCIndia) March 6, 2022
लोग उन्हें प्यार से राजीव भैया कहते थे, लेकिन वो लोग उनको छोड़ते नहीं थे, सवाल पूछते थे- सड़क, बिजली, शिक्षा को लेकर और डांट भी देते थे।
ये परंपरा थी UP की: श्रीमती @priyankagandhi pic.twitter.com/PEZmydYnPP
Essentially, Priyanka Gandhi, as a first-hand account, was revealing how her father, as Amethi MP, would be taken to task by the people for not fulfilling the promises he had made. Priyanka Gandhi wanted to portray how ‘back in the day’ voters could speak up to the Prime Minister about their broken promises. However, she did not realise that even after so many years of being in power, Congress had failed to provide basic facilities to people in Amethi.
Earlier last month, Priyanka Gandhi had lashed out on Amethi voters and blamed them for the humiliating competence of her brother who lost the ‘legacy’ seat to BJP’s Smriti Irani in 2019. She claimed that her brother lost from the family bastion because voters in Amethi vote with their eyes closed. “You are responsible for your situation. You are misled and then vote with your eyes closed,” she had told the audience at the rally.
Prior to that, in February 2021, Rahul Gandhi, former Amethi MP who is now Wayanad MP after losing Amethi, insulted the voters while campaigning in Kerala for the state assembly elections. Addressing the public in Trivandrum, Kerala, the senior Congress leader said that “people in Kerala are interested in issues and not just superficially but going into detail in issues” insinuating that Amethi voters are superficial.
It is important to note that Amethi was once considered a bastion of Gandhi’s family as the members of the family have been elected from the constituency eight times. Rajiv Gandhi had won three times, 1984, 1989, and in 1991 post his assassination. Before that, Sanjay Gandhi had represented Amethi once.
Rahul Gandhi had won three times from Amethi in 2004, 2009 and 2014, and Sonia Gandhi had won from the seat in 1999.
However, the other Gandhi-scion, Rahul Gandhi, was rooted out from Amethi in the 2019 elections for his failure to bring any development in the area. Interestingly, despite having such a long association with the place, the Gandhi family do not even have a house there. Instead, they stayed at a guest house during their visits to Amethi.
