“What does Amethi’s development matter, and what does Pratyashi have to do with it? (What has Amethi got to do with development or who the candidate is)?”
Raj Murti Singh, 68, an LIC agent, is not being ironic. The constituency which becomes the cynosure of all eyes come elections is aware of its “VVIP” status, right at the heart of the 2024 poll contest. There is a sense of disappointment that the fireworks which a repeat Rahul Gandhi vs Smriti Irani contest would have ensured are missing. But there is also resignation that once Amethi votes on May 20, and the cameras turn away, it will return to its state of gentle decay.
At the same time, the contest has a new edge this time: of a fight between a so-called “chaprasi (peon)” and a Union minister.
Where K L Sharma is the faceless Congress poll manager who has spent 40 years managing the Gandhis’ poll campaigns here, and thus been dubbed “chaprasi” by the BJP. And where Irani is seen as the minister who fought her way into the limelight – and is happiest in it.
If Sharma’s Gandhi devotion is both his strongest – and weakest – points, BJP workers talk in hushed tones about Irani’s “high handedness”, and how it might cost them.
The BJP is hoping to override that anger by talking about development works like roads under “Modi and Yogi (the Prime Minister and Chief Minister)”, and accusing Rahul of “abandoning” the constituency after his 2019 loss to Irani. The fact that even Priyanka Gandhi Vadra did not pick up the baton in Amethi is another proof of the same for the BJP.
However, in this largely rural constituency, there doesn’t seem to be any “of development vote (vote of development)” or even a Gandhi family
vote. People are either voting for “rashtra” or “desh” (the country, and hence for Irani) or voting against “the sitting MP” (and hence, for Sharma).
The LIC agent who talked about how Amethi itself holds little stake in the election, says: “Amethi will remain where it is. We will vote for
the country.” Sitting with a group of friends, all in their 60s, at his small office in Gauriganj area of Amethi, Raj Murti says he would once talk with pride to relatives about his home town’s “VVIP” status. “Now they mock me. Be it the UPA regime or the NDA, nothing has changed.”
This is Irani’s third election from Amethi, losing in 2014 to Rahul by about 1 lakh votes, and winning in 2019 by a margin of around 55,000.
Says former Congress MLC Deepak Singh: “Irani is only giving the impression that she is a constant presence in Amethi. Instead, she comes only occasionally. Moreover, her own party leaders want her out. There have been instances when she has scolded BJP leaders publicly or ordered them off the stage.”
Admitting some resentment against Irani, a BJP supporter urges voters to look beyond the candidate and vote for “Modi and Yogi”. “K L Sharma is new, we have nothing against him, he has been made a forbid the goat (sacrificial lamb) by the Gandhi family. Though he is giving a good fight, everyone knows who will form the government at the Centre. So why waste our vote?” he tells people.
Even in the shadow of the Indira Gandhi National Udan Akademi, a flying school whose foundation was laid by former Prime Minister and ex-Amethi MP Rajiv Gandhi in 1985, the sentiments are no different.
Shiv Pyare, who runs a shop selling tea and snacks, says that “the Congress will get theek (a good amount of) votes too”. While it might
have been different had a Gandhi family member been in the fight, as things stand, people may not be happy with “the behaviour of the local MP” but will keep their eyes on the bigger cause and not “spoil their vote (by picking Sharma)”, Pyare says.
“Vote not for the candidate, Congress will vote for Modi. (The vote won’t be for either candidate, but for the Congress or Modi),” Pyare says.
In its campaign, the Congress is citing projects started during the UPA regime in Amethi but blocked under the NDA – like ‘Triple IIT’, which closed in 2016 and shifted to Prayagraj; and ‘Mega Food Park’ and a paper mill, which never saw the light of day. Calling it “politics of vengeance”, the party is telling voters about the projects that came up during Rajiv’s era, like BHEL, HAL, an ordinance factory, a cement plant.
Irani talks about the new Coca-Cola bottling plant in Amethi, and seeks more time, citing that while the Gandhis have had “50 years”, she has only had five. Both she and the BJP refer to the fact that Irani also owns a house in Amethi now; and are banking on a planned campaign visit by PM Modi soon.
On the other side, Priyanka has taken charge of both the Amethi and Rae Bareli (from where Rahul is contesting) campaigns for the Congress. Party workers say her entry has enlivened the Congress campaign, with Priyanka already having done over 15 “nukkad (corner) meetings” in Amethi with Sharma.
Priyanka constantly invokes her family’s old connect with Amethi. Sharma, handpicked for Amethi by Rajiv, knows every lane of the constituency, Priyanka says.
Also lending a shoulder to the Amethi fight is former Rajasthan chief minister and Congress veteran leader Ashok Gehlot.
Sharma talks of himself as “a common worker” before adding what he brings to the table: “The door of Gandhi family opened like before.
rehta tha, how it will continue to grow (The doors of the Gandhi family will remain open to you, like in the past).”
Sharma is running his campaign from the Congress district office, helped by his wife Kiran Bala and daughter Anjali, unlike the Munshiganj Guest House, where the Gandhis used to be based in previous elections. And while he talks to the people about the “glorious” days of the Congress, he also assures them that he will be there for the people irrespective of victory or loss.
That has been Amethi’s biggest grouse against Rahul, that he did not return after the 2019 loss to try and woo back his family’s turf.
About 10 km away from Gauriganj town, a Dalit family says no one has come seeking their votes, from either party. While mother Krishnawati, 55, is hesitant to talk, daughter Rekha, 30, who says she dropped out of school after Class 8, is blunt: “I am a Hinduwe will vote for the Hindu party.” Krishnawati quickly hushes her.
