At 10 Janpath tragedy is farce, in Sriperumbudur, it’s more subtle

In faraway, Sriperumbudur, in the 6.5-acre memorial to Rajiv Gandhi, three days before his 13th death anniversary, it was a bit different.

People were discussing the widow of the man who will always be linked to this town. Some wanted her to become Prime Minister for touchingly small and intensely personal reasons.

Watchman M Senthiappan, who stands guard near the marble portrait of Rajiv Gandhi at the memorial, has been on contract like his nine other colleagues for the past 13 years. Somehow, he has figured that all of them, along with the 11 gardeners at the memorial would be regularised if Sonia becomes Prime Minister.

Then there is David who says he couldn’t quite put a finger on it but something made him so uneasy he advanced his annual ‘‘pilgrimage’’ by three days.

Every year, since Rajiv Gandhi, David, a Congress worker from Nellore, visits Sriperumbudur on May 21.

This year, with the polls won and Sonia set to take over as Prime Minister, David said he still felt so troubled that he and his wife visited Sriperumbudur early. ‘‘I want only Sonia Gandhi to become the Prime Minister. That’s my sincere prayer,’’ said David.

Almost all the buses and vans that pass along the Chennai-Bangalore highway, stop at the memorial. So do the pilgrims making their way to shrines in Kancheepuram.

Sundays see crowds of upto 5,000 people and this has generated business for hawkers like C Vatsala, who sells coconuts. It has also translated into a certain empathy for Sonia Gandhi.

‘‘She lost her mother-in-law. And she lost her husband. She deserves to become the Prime Minister just for the sacrifices she has made,’’ says Vatsala.

Adds Ashok Kumar, an executive with a multinational company: ‘‘People have given the mandate for her. Who are we to question it?’’ Then he betrays the personal angle: ‘‘Just a few hours before the assassination, I had stopped by at Sriperumbudur while returning home from college. That was the final day of my college. I can never forget the day.’’

No subtlety in Delhi, though. The faithful started acting out their own mini dramas.

Ex-MP Gangacharan Rajput stood on top of a car and took out a revolver attached to the drawstring of his pyajama and pointed it towards his head. ‘‘Sonia Gandhi ko yahan aane ko bolo. Nahin to main goli chala dunga (Call Sonia Gandhi or I’ll shoot myself),’’ he screamed while waving a stick to keep rescuers at bay. Rajput lost recently from Hamirpur in the Lok Sabha elections.

He was later brought down by workers and the police took him into custody. He claimed he had actualy fired a shot at himself but ‘‘missed’’.

Another Congress worker climbed onto the tree outisde 10 Janpath and refused to come down. A policeman attempted to reach him but failed.

Sorrow gave way to melodrama. Mahila Congress members wrote a letter in blood to Sonia Gandhi. ‘‘We want only Sonia Gandhi. The people have given her the mandate,’’ said Sushma, a Mahila Congress leader from Bihar.

For the afternoon, at least, every worker enjoyed his moment in the spotlight and an equal number of journalists stood taking down their quotes.

PCC presidents from Bihar, Rajasthan and Haryana sat in a row with signboards announcing that they were on a dharna. Between them sat Salman Khurshid, the leader whose emotions have swung from hope to despair. ‘‘We won’t move from here till Sonia Gandhi is persuaded. We will commit suicide,’’ said Ram Jatan Sinha.

The anger against BJP leaders was also strong at Akbar Road today.

Hundreds of Congress party workers sat around in little groups chanting slogans against the BJP especially Sushma Swaraj and Uma Bharti, who initiated the campaign against Sonia.

Anticipating trouble, the police had put up barricades. They were not needed. Sonia quietly left to announce her decision to the party, but the workers remained. In hope and to watch each other perform.