Priyanka striving hard to reclaim party’s lost ground in eastern UP
VARANASI: Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi is keeping in regular touch with eastern UP via Varanasi since 2019 to regain the party’s lost ground. She visited eastern UP at least six times from 2019 till date and touched Varanasi during every visit.
Priyanka started efforts to develop a bond with eastern UP in March 2019 through a Ganga Yatra from Allahabad to Varanasi via Bhadohi and Mirzapur. During this yatra, she took a boat ride and en route, she stopped, walked to the villages and called on the locals. The yatra concluded in Varanasi where she met boatmen at the famous Assi Ghat. On July 19, 2019, Priyanka landed in Varanasi and on way to Umbha village in Sonbhadra to meet the families of 10 tribal people who were killed in firing over a land dispute on July 17, 2019. But she was not allowed to do so. She was stopped by police and detained in Narayanpur in Mirzapur. She was taken to Chunar fort, Mirzapur where she and other Congressmen staged a dharna, demanding that she should be allowed to visit Umbha village.
On July 20, 2019, kin of the 10 tribals who lost their lives in the firing were called to the fort where Priyanka met them and assured them all possible help. In August 2019, she visited Umbha village and called on every member of the families of the 10 tribals. In January 2020, Priyanka Gandhi visited Varanasi and met the activists who were held during protests against CAA, as well as BHU students at Shrimath (monastery) on Panchganga Ghat. Later, she went back to Delhi. In February 2020, she visited Azamgarh and met family members of jailed anti-CAA protesters, asserting that raising a voice in a democracy was not a crime. In February 2021, Priyanka visited Varanasi where she offered prayers to Sant Ravidas in Seer Govardhan area of the city.
This Sunday, yet again, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi will be in Varanasi, the centre of eastern UP’s various socio-political and cultural activities and the parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the tallest leader of the BJP, since 2014. Priyanka will sound the poll bugle for the coming assembly elections 2022.
Political analyst Prof Kaushal Kishore Mishra said, “The Congress is trying to regain its lost mass base in eastern UP. That is why it is going to organise a rally in Varanasi. Active in UP since 2019, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi visited eastern UP several times to revive her party’s mass base. But it will not be easy for the party to regain its lost support base before the 2022 assembly elections, since it lacks committed workers in districts and long time Congress loyalist Laliteshpati Tripathi, the greatgrandson of former UP CM Pt Kamalapati Tripathi has quit the party.”
The rally would increase political temperature in the entire region, said Prof Mishra.