Tags:
Journalism of Courage
In-law out
Sonia Gandhi8217;s son-in-law Robert Vadra is missing from the poll campaign. In the last election, Vadra had accompanied Sonia to his home state of Punjab and was introduced to the voters of Amethi as well. Even the family8217;s star campaigner Priyanka Gandhi has been confined to Bellary and the Amethi belt in this election. Sonia8217;s constant companion is her son Rahul, perennially chewing gum and looking rather wooden. Congressmen explain that Priyanka is deliberately keeping a low profile since she is in charge of the party8217;s campaign in Amethi. However, not-so-loyal partymen wonder privately whether the underplaying of the Gandhi family8217;s biggest asset is because Italians, like Indian mothers, have a soft spot for their sons. Sonia, it is believed, is not very approving of her daughter8217;s in-laws, particularly after she learnt that one of Vadra8217;s uncles has RSS sympathies and had donated land for a Saraswati Shishu Mandir.
Sibling substitute
A BBC crew flew down from London to do a special programme on Sonia on the verbal assurance of one of Sonia8217;s socialite friends that there would be no problem in arranging an interview. But when the TV crew arrived at the Congress media cell in Delhi, it was made quite clear that Sonia does not speak individually to newsmen and they would have to be content with Congress spokesman Kapil Sibal speaking on her behalf. The Brits made the mistake of protesting that they had already spoken to Sushma Swaraj in Bellary. That was like a red rag to a bull and the Congressmen were even more intransigent and unhelpful. The BBC crew left in a huff. Sibal in turn threatened to writea letter of complaint to the BBC headquarters saying that he had given them an opportunity to interview him on behalf of Sonia and they had flatly turned it down.
De-pressing coverage
Some blame the goof-ups by the Congress8217;s media cell on the Kerala boys. Tom Vadakkan, a member of the secretarial staff has been appointed to the prestigious post of secretary to the media cell, while Tomy Thomas is another key organiser. 8220;They don8217;t have clue of the distance from Delhi to Sultanpur or an idea of the key Congress workers to contact in the UP constituencies,8221; a sidelined north Indian Congress worker complained. But it is hardly the fault of the Keralite contingent, who are always very polite and helpful, if there is no clear chain of command in the Congress.
A Delhi press party was taken to Sultanpur by train to witness Sonia filing her nomination papers for Amethi. The weary and hungry journalists were taken aback when they discovered on arrival that no bookings had been made in the only suitablehotel. Instead they were packed into various guest houses and there were queues for the limited number of bathrooms. After waiting for two hours for Sonia to arrive, the newsmen were not even given an opportunity to speak to her. Even the TV footage of the event did not reach Delhi in time for the 9 p.m. news, since a Congress worker officiously refused to hand over the cassette sent from Sultanpur to the TV channel8217;s dispatch rider. Media arrangements for Sonia8217;s visit to western UP were even more chaotic. The last-minute decision meant that many journalists could not be contacted in time. Those who made it by 6.30 a.m. to the chartered bus returned disgruntled at 8.30 p.m. the same day. The bus chased Sonia8217;s cavalcade from Bulandshahr to Khurja and onwards to Aligarh, but never succeeded in catching up with her, except at Aligarh where the the press party got a fleeting glimpse of Sonia climbing onto her chopper.
A jittery Ajit
Ajit Singh used to be the envy of other politicians since he spentmost of the campaign relaxing in Delhi and exerted himself to address only one or two rallies in his Baghpat constituency. As Chaudhary Charan Singh8217;s chorra he believed he would automatically be elected from his father8217;s pocket borough. Charan Singh as unquestioned Jat leader could afford to take his voters for granted, but Ajit8217;s complacency was misplaced. He lost the last election to Som Pal.
Today, Ajit is a changed man. He is not merely addressing as many meetings as he can just like other politicians, but he has even been going from door to door seeking votes.
