Observing Nehru’s death anniversary : KPCC style

There were hardly a dozen party workers present on the premises. Outside the office, a tempo load of hired crowd, sat shouting slogans against the state leaders for their leader being left out of the PCC list. As this hired crowd included several families, the wailing of kids, amidst slogans, added to the pervading gloom.

The KPCC party members who were present, were undecided on whether to begin the function or to cancel it. Newspaper photographers clicked away at the empty chairs. As a Doordarshan cameraman began to pan, organisers pleaded with the paltry crowd to come inside the office to pose for the camera. Instead they raised slogans against the mockery of organisational elections held the previous day.

In the absence of senior leaders it was left to one of the KPCC general secretaries, B M Hasanabba and Bangalore District Congress Committee chairman, Narayanaswamy, to give speeches. Hasanabba said KPCC President Dharam Singh, opposition leaders in Assembly and Council, Mallikarjuna Kharge and H K Patil, respectively, could not make it to the function as they were away at Molakalmuru campaigning for the Assembly by-elections.

But at least ten office bearers of the forty selected on the previous day, could have made it to the function, he said. Just a day ago, this place was teeming with so many imported cars with so many party candidates aspiring for some post or the other, he said.

Narayaanswamy said that the party built by Gandhi, Nehru, Indira Gandhi has been systematically wrecked by self seekers. He said it was unfortunate that a senior person like Rajshekharamurthy, a Rajya Sabha member, to have gone to press to say that goondas and other anti-social elements have been made office bearers. “I am also an office bearer who got elected yesterday. Am I a goonda”, he asked the audience.

A person from the audience said that the election was a mockery as all contestants were forced to give an undertaking that party high command’s decision would be final and that there should be no argument against it.

Another party worker was very vocal in his criticism of present day Congress leaders. “One can find them more often in bars than anywhere else,’ he said.

As the meeting ended, one more tempo load of slogan shouting brigade, also having numerous wailing children, arrived. They raised slogans in favour of a block level leader from Gandhinagar who was being left out of the PCC member list. This group converted the unused shamiana cloth into bedding and continued with their slogans. Nehru’s smile remained unchanged.