Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is certainly busy making up for lost time as she bombards the people of Uttar Pradesh with a headline a day. If she is not taking on the cause of the farmers versus the Central and State Government on the Lakhimpuri Kheri murders, she is courting arrest trying to visit the family of a man who allegedly died in police custody. In between, she managed to evade the local police by smuggling herself out of her house in her car trunk and visited a Dalit colony where she visited a temple and swept the floor. A few days later she announced 40 per cent reservation for women in ticket distribution by the Congress, told the media that she was also working on a women’s manifesto that will include e-cycles and smartphones for college girls— and also happened to bump into her ally turned rival Akhilesh Yadav on a Lucknow flight where she congratulated him for taking all the `cowards’ away from the Congress— a reference to all the local Congress leaders who were leaving the party having lost faith in the Congress ticket.
The meeting with Akhilesh may have been by chance but she made the most of it by revealing to the media what she had told the SP leader (the line about cowards) and managed to make the most of the opportunity. While the SP camp is yet to comment on it, Congress sources also informed us as to how Priyanka sat in the economy while the socialist leader sat in business class. Later on Priyanka herself dwelt on this during her interviews with the media. Without attacking the SP leader directly she managed to convey two messages. One that he is taking turncoats whom the Congress had no use for and second, that she travelled economy class. (While Priyanka has started her media interactions, Akhilesh is yet to begin his apart from a few soundbites and appearances at conclaves.)
This running away with the message is a leaf that Priyanka has clearly taken out of Narendra Modi’s book. ( I know that neither will thank me for this comparision). Even on the day that the PM himself was at Varanasi to launch the Ayushman Bharat Infra Health Mission in his constituency, Priyanka Gandhi chose that same day to make her own announcement on health care. She tweeted that if voted to power the Congress would provide free treatment and healthcare up to Rs 10 Lakh. Taking a dig at the Yogi government she tweeted that: “Everyone saw the dilapidated condition of the health system in UP during the Covid-19 pandemic, which is a result of the apathy and neglect of the current government. With the consent of the Manifesto Committee, the UP Congress has decided that when it forms the government in UP, any disease will be treated free of cost. The government will bear expenses up to Rs 10 lakh.”
She may have come late to the party—though her party workers point to her interventions during the Hathras rape and murder case, rallies against CAG, and her taking on the Yogi government on the issue of buses for the migrants— but she is definitely a major part of the Opposition’s narrative against the BJP. The problem is that the party lacks a ground-level structure and discipline to convert her initiatives into votes and two, her interventions through headline-worthy have been sporadic. Can she restore the faith of the people in her – and the Congress. A lot will depend on whether she chooses to contest the polls or not. Will she be part of the 40 percent women on the Congress ticket? “Ladki hoon, lad sakti hoon” (I am a girl, and I can fight) is the Congress slogan. Will Priyanka be an active part of this slogan?
She is not revealing her cards right now but her leading from the front will make all the difference for that will pit her directly against Yogi Adityanath and his main contender Akhilesh Yadav. As far as Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is concerned it will raise her stature from campaigner to contender. Otherwise, she runs the risk of being an Assadduddin Owaisi, who is seen as a spoiler at best. The decision is in her court.