AS THE STEAMER, painted in tricolour, drew closer to Assi Ghat in Varanasi, a crowd of Congress workers surged towards it. Men and women broke through police barricades and dashed towards the boat to welcome party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Priyanka waved to the crowds as she disembarked. But, as she made her way to the ghat, there was a security scare that the narrow pontoon bridge leading to the riverbank would not be able to bear the rush of people.
With a lot of difficulty, Priyanka made her way through the melee and finally set foot in Varanasi. This was the final lap of her three-day boat yatra through the Ganga, which began in Prayagraj on March 18 and culminated in Varanasi on March 20. The yatra was significant as it marked the launch of Priyanka’s campaign for the Lok Sabha elections after she was put in charge of party affairs for eastern Uttar Pradesh.
The carefully crafted campaign saw Priyanka reach out to communities settled on the banks of the Ganga. The boat ride began with an interaction with students from Allahabad University. During the course of the journey, she met with people from different sections of society, including weavers and women’s groups. She also visited the homes of Pulwama martyrs in and around Varanasi.
In line with the party’s soft hindutva approach, put in practice by her brother and Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka’s itinerary included visits to temples, capped by a prayer at the famous Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi. And, there was plenty of throwback to her grandmother, Indira Gandhi, to whom she bears a close resemblance. She stayed at Prayagraj’s Swaraj Bhawan, where Indira was born, before embarking on the yatra. The handloom saris and the rudraksh necklace she wore during the trip were reminiscent of her grandmother.
It was significant that the journey’s final destination was Varanasi—Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency. In her speech at Assi Ghat, her only public address in the holy city, Priyanka attacked the Modi government for making false promises about alleviating the difficulties of the youth, farmers and women. The intent of the visit—dubbed ‘Sanchi Baat, Priyanka Ke Saath’—was clear. It was to convey the message in Varanasi and beyond that Priyanka and her party were ready to take on Modi directly, and that she was up for the challenge of preparing the Congress for polls in what was an extremely difficult political terrain for the party.
However, Priyanka’s endeavour appears to have ended with the realisation of the daunting task that lies ahead for the party—wresting the political narrative from Modi and the BJP at the national level and reviving the Congress’s fortunes in the electorally crucial Uttar Pradesh. Nationally, Priyanka’s outreach programme was overshadowed by Modi’s ‘Main Bhi Chowkidar’ campaign, which got a boost with the arrest of businessman Nirav Modi, wanted in the multi-crore Punjab National Bank fraud case, in London.
At the local level, her visit failed to resonate with Varanasi, which was otherwise buzzing with festive excitement on the eve of Holi. Said Satish Singh, a trader who was among a smattering of onlookers at the riverfront, “Priyanka will not have any impact here. It is like a celebrity visit.” Gunjan Thakur, 20, who will vote for the first time this Lok Sabha polls, said she was impressed with Modi’s dynamism. “Modiji is our representative. He has done a lot of work for Varanasi,” said the final year BCom student. She did not know much about Priyanka, she confessed.
Meant to test political waters, the boat yatra brought to the fore the handicaps of the Congress in the Gangetic belt, comprising five Lok Sabha constituencies—Prayagraj, Phulpur, Bhadohi, Mirzapur and Varanasi. For more than two decades, the Congress has not won a Lok Sabha seat in the area, except from Varanasi in 2004. In the 2018 bypolls in Phulpur—once represented by former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru—the Congress emerged a poor fourth.
“There is no party organisation here,” said Dr Dhirendra Pandey, general secretary, Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee. “Some leaders, with no connect with the grassroots, are running the party, and their influence is limited to just their own households.”
Local leaders said the Congress needs to woo back the upper castes, apart from the minorities and dalits. Also, Priyanka’s reference to the party’s glorious past in the state and her resemblance to her grandmother would have limited impact, as the young generation has no memory of either the time Indira dominated the country’s political scene or when the Congress ruled Uttar Pradesh.
Local leaders, however, said that Priyanka’s visit did get a good response from the youth, women, farmers and people from other backward communities who live on the banks of the Ganga. The effort though may not translate into any substantial change in the party’s electoral results in the Lok Sabha polls. Mithai Lal Dubey, a Congress functionary from Bhadohi district, said Priyanka’s task would be to rebuild the organisation and woo back its traditional vote banks. “We may not win now,” said Dubey. “But then, Priyankaji is working for 2022 [assembly elections].”
For Priyanka, the arduous journey of reviving the Congress in Uttar Pradesh has only just begun.