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Journalism of Courage
Without directly attacking the Yogi Adityanath government or the Centre, Rahul Gandhi, the newly elected Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, underlined all the points the Congress has been raising during his first trip to his constituency, Raebareli, after his poll win from there.
Gandhi’s pit stops at a Hanuman temple, the Shaheed Smarak, the late Captain Anshuman Singh’s home and the local AIIMS, the foundation stone of which was laid by his mother and former Raebareli MP Sonia Gandhi, during his day-long trip were all targeted and precise.
His visit coming close on the heels of the BJP protesting in Parliament and outside over his speech mentioning the party and Hindus, Gandhi’s first stop was the Hanuman temple in the Churva area of Raebareli. Ahead of his visit, posters had come up in Raebareli urging him to “clarify which religion he belonged to”. So, the first visuals of his visit showed Gandhi offering prayers at the temple as the Hanuman Chalisa was being recited.
Another stop Gandhi made was to the family of Captain Singh, who was killed in a fire incident in July last year while posted at Siachen. Days ago, Singh’s mother and wife received the Kirti Chakra, with the wife’s emotional message going viral. Though Gandhi did not speak about the meeting, Singh’s mother spoke to the media thanking the Congress leader for “giving the family respect” and revealed that the subject of the Agnipath scheme had come up during their talks.
Her appeal to the government to end “two systems for Army personnel” fits well into Gandhi’s attacks against the BJP government over the new recruitment scheme, which is seen to have cost the BJP some votes in the recent polls. After the results, one issue Gandhi has taken up is the monetary compensation for those recruited under the scheme – for a period of four years to begin with – if they died on the line of duty.
Another halt made by Gandhi was at the Shaheed Smarak. During the campaign, both he and sister and Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had invoked a “100-year-long connect” with the constituency by talking about Jawaharlal Nehru’s role in standing by the farmers whose “martyrdom” the memorial marks. Thirteen of them had been killed in 1921 in firing by the authorities to break up a protest during the non-cooperation movement, at Munshiganj.
AIIMS in Raebareli, where Gandhi also stopped by, has been another pet issue for the family. He has accused the Narendra Modi government of “bias” against the project and of attempting to stall it. During his visit Tuesday, Gandhi visited wards, met patients and gathered details about the progress of the project from the hospital administration. Following this, he had a brief interaction with the students studying at the institute attached to the hospital, who said they apprised him of the poor condition of the road in front of the institute, among other issues.
As some party leaders alleged that facilities in the AIIMS had been cut, Gandhi just took stock of the progress without saying a word.
Later, Gandhi reportedly held a meeting with officials involved in road and bridge construction and the Railways in the area, though no details were shared by the party.
According to sources, some of the projects that Gandhi discussed included the long-pending outer ring road, which was due to be completed in 2016, and the Banda-Bahraich highway, which passes through his constituency. He also asked officers for details on why the projects were delayed, the sources added.
