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Journalism of Courage
The way to Delhi’s Ramila Maidan, the venue for the Congress’s Halla Bol Rally Sunday, remained dotted with posters of party leaders and senior workers.
However, it was mostly Rahul Gandhi occupying the centre space in every poster and larger-than-life cutout, whether it was by Delhi, Haryana or Rajasthan unit karyakartas, followed by Priyanka Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi as distant second and third. Even in T-shirts and caps of party workers, Rahul featured prominently.
The former Congress president, who is believed to be reluctant to return to the top job, also dominated posters of the Congress’s coming Bharat Jodo Yatra, his biggest outreach campaign since joining politics.
Put up and distributed by party workers and senior leaders, the rally paraphernalia were a clear demonstration by them of their support for Rahul, at a time when the Congress has begun the process of electing its new party chief.
Among the other leaders, Haryana Congress stalwart Bhupinder Singh Hooda did pop up in a few posters, installed at some places by Haryana unit karyakartas. However, other leaders, including reported Congress chief post contenders like Shashi Tharoor and Ashok Gehlot, registered barely a presence.
“One has to be careful to back seniors who one thinks is calling the shots in the party. No one wants to go wrong… If you give prominence to someone who is not in the good books of the high command, such things are noticed,” a senior Congress leader observed.
Vinay Gujjar, a Congress worker from Haryana, said: “Rahulji should now come forward… the country needs him.” He was the only one talking of issues like price rise and unemployment, Gujjar added. “No one else. The rest are busy doing politics on religious issues or using the media for false propaganda.”
Sunita Rani, a Congress worker from Agra unit, said Rahul is the only leader “who speaks against the RSS”. “He should become the president and guide us forward. In Delhi also, you can see that AAP is silent on bulldozer politics. (Arvind) Kejriwalji mostly remains silent on issues where he thinks his votes would be affected. He was silent during the CAA protests, Delhi riots… But Rahulji speaks for everyone. The DNA of the Congress is to speak for every person, every caste , every religion.”
