By Oracle
The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) leaders and cadre must be basking in the revelry after Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s maiden election speech at Bhainsa in Adilabad district on Saturday afternoon.
The poorly-orchestrated first-ever election meeting of the Congress president turned out to be a damp squib with poor attendance of people under an enclosed pandal.
The script of Rahul Gandhi’s speech was replete with too many irrelevant points and issues that are not cohesive. For instance, invoking Ambedkar’s name and alleging that the KCR Administration “doesn’t like the name of Ambedkar” and that’s why his name was removed for the Kaleshwaram project was so crass that TRS MP B Vinod Kumar instantly cried foul and called out the ignorance of State Congress leaders. The MP asserted that the project was christened after Dr. B R Ambedkar and it was never changed.
Pouring cold water on the expectations of the Congress sympathisers that Rahul would rev up the enthusiasm among the rank and file of the party, Rahul Gandhi spoke of Narendra Modi, his “Chowkidaree” to the rich and the influential which could not connect with the audience. His long-winding speech dotted with names of Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksy, Anil Ambani, Rafael deal, benefitting Anil Ambani to an extent of Rs. 30,000 crore is neither relevant nor could it kindle any hope and aspiration among the youths.
Vain bid to connect KCR with Modi
Most parts of Rahul Gandhi’s speech was dedicated to castigating Modi’s administration. His vain bid to connect Modi and KCR over the Land Acquisition Bill disappeared in the thin air, as people in Bhainsa didn’t connect with the point the Congress president tried to drive home, nor did they understand what he was referring to.
Rahul’s reference to KCR ignoring Komaram Bheem impaled his ignorance, for a district was named after the tribal leader. By saying that the KCR Government had failed to implement the 12 percent reservations to Muslims, Rahul Gandhi either conveniently ignored the fact that the Telangana Assembly had passed a Bill and forwarded it to the Parliament to take it up or he had no knowledge of the procedure.
He failed even to scrape the surface while criticising the TRS Government, for he did not seem clued on the issues of Telangana. Generic statements like one sweeping allegation that corruption was rampant came across as if Rahul Gandhi was deriding himself.
The criticism regarding the double bedroom houses and distribution of three acres of agricultural land to Schedule Castes by the Congress boss appeared like devil quoting scriptures, for the Congress leaders never had an iota of an idea about such programs. In fact, TRS MP Vinod Kumar put it in perspective. While the double bedroom houses is a “work in progress”, he explained how the land value had shot up after KCR took over the reins of the State and how it became difficult to acquire land.
Feeble criticism on Mission Bhageeratha
Rahul Gandhi’s feeble criticism of Mission Bhageeratha spoke volumes of its success on the ground.
The Congress leaders made Rahul Gandhi list out the agenda listed in the “jacket advertisements” issued in newspapers on Saturday. Why did Rahul Gandhi have to talk about the Minimum Support Price to farmers, which is in the domain of the Union Government and not in the scope of the State Government, remained a million-dollar question.
Speech by Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and Revanth Reddy after Rahul Gandhi’s address sent wrong signals among the people as if they were the star campaigners and not the Congress president.
All in all, the maiden election meeting by Rahul Gandhi turned out to be a damp squib with an insipid speech with irrelevant references.