“Doosri Indira,” was the Congress’s encomium for Priyanka Gandhi Vadra after she was appointed General Secretary for Eastern Uttar Pradesh in 2019, and then for the entire state in September 2020. However, the Congress party’s dismal showing in the state elections under Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s leadership has demonstrated that she is not “Doosri Indira,” but rather another “Rahul Gandhi.”
Much like her brother, who failed to propel the Congress Party to power in the last Lok Sabha elections, and recent state elections in the Hindi heartland despite multiple ‘launches,’ Priyanka Gandhi appears to have failed to bring about the ‘magic’ she was expected to bring. Her performance has prompted the party to replace her with Avinash Pande, on December 23, as the party’s General Secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh.
Priyanka Gandhi, on the other hand, will remain the party’s general secretary with no specific state assigned to her. What’s better than power without accountability though? Priyanka Gandhi’s removal from the party’s key post in Uttar Pradesh warrants an analysis of the party’s performance in the state under her leadership.
Congress loses party bastion Amethi in 2019 elections
Once hailed as “Amethi ka danka, bitiya Priyanka”, Priyanka Gandhi, despite undertaking a combative campaign in Amethi, could not garner enough support for her brother Rahul Gandhi who lost to Bhartiya Janata Party’s Smriti Irani. The BJP leader defeated the Gandhi scion in his bastion with Priyanka Gandhi leading the campaign. Smriti Irani’s spectacular win, with a margin of 55,120 votes in a Gandhi stronghold, was a major blow to the party and reflected the state’s mood against Congress. Both Priyanka and Rahul failed to sense the resentment prevailing in the people of Amethi.
While Rahul Gandhi more or less forgot Amethi after his 2014 win against Irani, she continued to visit Amethi to establish connect with the people and make her place in their hearts. Irani’s painstaking efforts helped her carve a path to victory in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections emerging as a “giant slayer”.
With her appointment as the party’s general secretary in charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh, Priyanka Gandhi began her first major role in active politics on a disappointing note.
Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections
The assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh last year were viewed as a litmus test for opposition parties ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, echoing the saying that “as Uttar Pradesh goes, so goes India.”
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who was tasked with rebuilding the Congress party in Uttar Pradesh for the assembly election, presided over one of the party’s worst setbacks. It not only lost five seats in the state, falling from seven to two – Rampur Khas and Phephna- but its vote share also dropped to a dismal 2.33%.
It should be recalled that the Congress received roughly 12% of the votes in UP in the 2012 elections, while the BJP received 15%. In the ten years following that, the BJP has risen from 15% to 41%, while the Congress, led by Priyanka Gandhi, has fallen from 12% to 2%.
It is interesting to recall that right before the election in Uttar Pradesh, Priyanka Gandhi had launched a “temple run” in a bid to project herself as a “devout” Hindu. From visiting the Durgakunda Temple, to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple, to observing the Navratri fast, Gandhi left no stone upturned to appear a Hindu with the ‘friendly’ media ensuring proper media coverage.
Back in 2019, it was reported that Priyanka Gandhi had said that her party had fielded such candidates in Uttar Pradesh that either they would win or would cut into the BJP’s vote. Contrary to Priyanka Gandhi’s approach, a true leader would focus on planning and ensuring their own victory rather than employing such tactics to bring down the opponent.
From moving from Delhi to Lucknow, walking shoulder to shoulder with those protesting against the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act, extending support to farmers’ protests, to holding aggressive protests all over the state seeking the resignation of CM Yogi Adityanath over the tragic death of the Hathras gang-rape victim, Priyanka Gandhi spared no efforts to attract support for the party against the BJP.
It is worth recalling the “Ladki Hoon Lad Sakti Hoon” campaign launched by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra with the intent of garnering support from the women voters in the state. Ironically, even the poster girls of this campaign ditched Congress and joined the BJP sensing that Congress’s ship was going to sink. While Priyanka Gandhi was busy undertaking “pink marathons”, the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government enjoyed the strong backing of the “silent voter” – the women. With a relatively improved law and order situation, women-centric welfare scheme including the distribution of free ration kits, and provision of LPG cylinders under Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, Bank Sakhi Yojana etc, the BJP managed to bring real change and empowerment into the lives of the women.
Rahul and Priyanka were not seen at any party events in Uttar Pradesh for several months after the humiliating defeat. Rahul made an appearance in UP earlier this year when his Bharat Jodo Yatra passed through the state briefly. Taking no lesson from Smriti Irani who turned the wave in her favour even after defeat, Priyanka Gandhi in February last year blamed the the voters for the party’s humiliating defeat in the state. During an election rally in Amethi, she said that her brother was defeated in the family bastion because Amethi locals voted with their eyes closed. “You are responsible for your situation. You are misled and then vote with your eyes closed,” she told the public.
No leader can bring their party to power with such a delusional approach because Janta is Janardan and not some small kid who can be ‘misled’.
Priyanka Gandhi’s dismissal from a prominent position in Uttar Pradesh not only illustrates that the Gandhis are no longer willing to even challenge the invincible phenomenon – Narendra Modi – head-on, but also the Congress party’s lack of strong leadership.
Despite its ‘big brother’ attitude, Congress has high hopes for the unholy “INDI Alliance”. However, once accredited for bringing together the Samajwadi Party and Congress during the 2017 Uttar Pradesh elections, Priyanka Gandhi failed to make efforts to pacify Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav, a key ally in the INDI Alliance when he expressed his resentment over seat-sharing in Madhya Pradesh elections.
With Gandhis shying away from leading the Congress from the front and the internal rift in the INDI Alliance, the BJP-led NDA might secure a smooth return to power. However, since Gandhis remain supreme in Congress, they will continue to rule the ruins.
