While she may have seized a moment in UP, she must launch an original campaign as a grassroots worker than a family rep

At least somebody in the Congress is alive and kicking given the political sanyas taken by former president Rahul Gandhi, who is now a disembodied conscience of the party that only reminds the rump it has become, forcing an ideological conflict between his mother’s old guard and his young rebels and confusing the party and rank and file. In this context, his sister and Congress general secretary for UP East, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who has taken up the cudgels on behalf of the dispossessed tribals in Sonbhadra, some of whom were shot over a land that was sold among consenting power-brokers without recompensing them, is at least keeping herself relevant among the grassroot Congress workers, if not the country’s politics. At least, there is a rooted realism to her brother’s exalted escapism. Her refusal to furnish a bail bond after she was detained from visiting affected villagers by the Yogi Adityanath government, which fears politicisation of what is indeed an embarrassing issue, may be dramatic but did generate a talk point. The night-long dharna in a Mirzapur guest house, the visit of State officials whom she refused to comply with, the power cuts which she attributed to the establishment’s way of dampening her spirit, all fit the agitationist politics that at least got her better visuals than those of her election campaign. Even perked up some local Congress workers. And considering Sonbhadra’s proximity to Varanasi, the constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, her antics probably made more sense than when she had casually challenged his candidacy with a hint of her own and not followed through. Question is whether it all works uphill from here or not.

Considering Congress insiders are hoping her to be a campaigner-in-chief on the ground in a State, which is slated for the next round of Assembly polls, she at least is trying to build a narrative. However, this time there has to be an all-new approach than the one that has been relied on her family for years. Already, Congress workers have started comparing her Mirzapur protest to Indira Gandhi’s campaign against upper castes who had tortured Dalits at Belchi way back in 1977, forgetting that the Congress has zero base in Uttar Pradesh in 2019 compared to then. Besides, the Lok Sabha verdict for the Congress shows that the voter is no longer interested in dynastic entitlements but performance graphs where descendants have to strip their armour to be a commoner. What Priyanka needs to do is not be a paratrooped people’s princess but be a permanent presence in Uttar Pradesh, relocate herself to Lucknow and consistently develop her party first before even aiming for this Assembly. This is what another of the young Turks, Sachin Pilot, did by moving to Rajasthan. Not only does she need to live down her tag, she needs her own mantra and not Rahul’s. The good thing for her is that her political sensibilities are primed. And she did seize the moment in Sonbhadra with earnestness and promptness while the UP parties like Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party trailed way behind. The Trinamool Congress, too, sent a delegation to Varanasi to prop up some semblance of Opposition unity. Frankly, Priyanka needs to stay away from such diversions as they will never give her any momentum except add to her nuisance value. One must remember that she could not even generate a swell, leave alone a wave, in the Lok Sabha and completely lost the plot in the family seat of Amethi. Yet she has been backroom in-charge of both her mother Sonia’s Rae Bareli and brother Rahul’s Amethi seats. This only strengthens claims of her being a visiting alibi rather than a serious Congress leader that the party would like to look up to. And before she or her brother blames the party workers or organisation, they should first ask themselves if they have done anything in the first place to restore confidence and faith. Priyanka must also realise that she cannot stake her all in UP, where the Congress has its lowest capital at this point of time, the worst flatliner that her kin ever had to face. And that it would need more than theatrics and spearheading a real issue-based movement to recharge the base first. Elections are due in Haryana, Jharkhand, Delhi and Maharashtra and the party needs to snap out of its trauma. And since everybody accepts that the new Congress president would be a puppet, she should press for organisational elections so that at least there are State-level faces to prepare a plan. For all the charm around her before, Priyanka must believe that personality politics is her real beast of burden.