The Hindu : Sonia questions `India shining' slogan

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jan 25, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Sonia questions `India shining' slogan

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, JAN.24. With an eye on the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, today upped the ante on the political front here by undertaking a visit to the Holambi Kalan area in North-West Delhi where slum dwellers of Yamuna Pushta are being relocated. Pointing towards the slum clusters, Ms. Gandhi took a swipe at the NDA Government asking: "Where is India Shining?''

The hurried tour by Ms. Gandhi was described by many as an election-related exercise aimed at standing up to the Congress vote bank that has been dislocated and rehabilitated in various parts on the outskirts of the Capital. The visit did coincide with the relocation exercise being undertaken in the Yamuna Pushta clusters, but the similarities end here. The Holambi Kalan relocation site has been receiving people from various locations of the Capital for the past two and a half years. It is the first time that Ms. Gandhi has decided to visit them and enquire about their problems. Interestingly, a majority of the problems cited by the residents related to the Delhi Government but Ms. Gandhi chose to target the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Central Government for dislocating Congress voters and accused it of being anti-poor.

A large number of Congressmen, including many ticket aspirants, were in attendance. Accompanying the Congress president were the Delhi Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, her Council of Ministers, the senior party leader in charge of Delhi affairs, Ahmed Patel, the AICC secretary, Anil Shastri, the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president, Chaudhary Prem Singh, and a large number of MLAs and Councillors. Moreover, announcements galore were made on the occasion. While the Education Minister, Arvinder Singh Lovely, declared that a Government school would start operating in the area from January 27, the Transport Minister, Haroon Yusuf, said four DTC buses have been pressed into action for the facility of the relocated people.

In fact, Congressmen confessed that the whole exercise was meant to appease the lakhs of voters residing in the slum clusters and unauthorised colonies across the Capital and convey a message that Congress would stand by them. However, many others were of the view that this could be a turning point in the electoral battle for the seven Delhi Lok Sabha seats as the outright appeasement of this category of voters could drive away the lower and upper middle class voters, who had overwhelmingly voted for the Congress in the recently concluded Assembly polls.

Political observers point out that the obsession for indulging in populist politics could work to the disadvantage of the Congress that had made development its main plank. It was for the first time in the recently-concluded Assembly polls that issues like unauthorised colonies, JJ clusters, industrial relocation took a backseat. Instead, issues like development, infrastructure, pollution, environment and better transportation became the focus areas. However, many feel that the attempts to attract this section of the vote bank could drive away the gains in other segments.

However, it is very clear that the Congress has sounded the election bugle and decided to take the BJP head-on in the Lok Sabha polls in Delhi. An interesting battle looks to be on hands and surely the Chief Minister would have to pull out all the tricks from her bag to wrest all the seven seats from the BJP or make a contest out of it.

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