Rahul tears into ‘retrograde’ Left

Prithvijit Mitra, Subhro Maitra & Pinak Priya Bhattacharya TNN
Malda/Malbazar/Purulia/Bankura: Rahul Gandhi tore into Left Front during his whirlwind campaign in Bengal on Friday, barbs laced with stinging statistics and a new confidence in his voice. “When I went to China last year, communist leaders there asked me why CPM in Bengal banks on 40-yearold slogans,” Rahul said at a Malbazar rally, cheered on by thousands. Rahul, who flew into Bengal on Friday, was no longer a ‘probationer politician’, as some had called him during his initiation in the 2004 Lok Sabha election. This was a seasoned politician, a practised speaker who knew how much — and what — to pack into a 15-minute speech. In Purulia and Bankura, the Congress youth mascot spoke of hunger, poverty and the state government’s failure to implement the 100-day rural job guarantee scheme. In Malbazar, he spoke of tribal land rights and hunger deaths in closed tea gardens. Bengal got a picture of an increasingly assertive and aggressive Rahul, who, it is clear, is headed for a bigger role in the national arena. And his decision to hold a press conference in Kolkata on Saturday indicates the importance he and Sonia Gandhi are giving to the Trinamool-Congress alliance. Rahul hit where he knew it would hurt most. “What sort of communists are they?” he repeatedly asked. “Communists struggle for the poor. But this (LF) government has been doing things that hurt the poor. We had sent Rs 30 crore for housing for the poor under Indira Awas Yojana. Thirty per cent of the amount was not spent. The same happened with employment schemes,” said Rahul, slamming CPM for sticking to “an age-old, rejected variety of communism” that stunted growth. The one-time UPA allies came in for stinging criticism for their “40-year-old retrograde policies” and “cowardice” over the nuclear deal. “The communists are still holding on to dated ideas about world politics. They refused to support us on the nuclear deal, claiming we were being arm-twisted by the US. In the new world, no one can be browbeaten, but they refused to see this. We went ahead with the deal as it was for the betterment of the people. Left Front needs to update itself.” ‘Cute’ Rahul invokes youth power Malda/Malbazar/Purulia/Bank ura: Everywhere Rahul Gandhi went during his whirlwind campaign, the atmosphere was electric. Thousands stood for hours in the sweltering heat for a glimpse. Women climbed on chairs with children in arms for a better view, men rushed the bamboo barricades. Rahul triggered a cheer whenever he waved to the crowd, or sprinkled some Bengali on his speeches. “Maldar jonoshadharon ke janai amar namoskar,” was his opening line in Malda. In Bankura, it was “Bankurar manuser joi ho”, driving the crowd wild. In his trademark starched kurta-pajama and a Tricolour angavastram — reminiscent of his late father Rajiv Gandhi — Rahul invoked youth power. Only the young and the liberal, he said, could see through the “evil designs” of the “Communist government” and bring it crashing down. “The communists never want the development of the country; they only want their party to flourish. They forget that India is no longer what she was 70 years ago. The world has taken note of our power and is afraid of us.” Cries of “Rahul, we love you” were often heard. “He is so fair and cute. And he speaks so well. I wish his voice was a bit more manly, but he is a darling,” said second-year student Reshmi Choudhury, who waited under the scorching sun for an hour. Her classmate Anuradha had a different take. “Rahul has the makings of a good politician. It was evident from his speech that he has done quite a bit of homework on Bengal politics,” she said. Housewife Smita Mondol of Madabnagar was not too bothered about Rahul’s political future. “He is so good-looking. Babar motoi dekhte, (he looks like his father),” said Smita. “Na, babar cheyeo bhalo (better than his father),” felt Jayesha Biwi. Septuagenarian Younis Ali came all the way from Sekhpura, in Manikchak, after offering his Friday namaaz just to catch a glimpse of the “future PM”. “Dekhlam, tobe dur theke” (Saw him, but only from a distance),” Ali rued. The Congress leader had evidently done his homework well. On the Malda dais, Rahul was flanked by Congress candidates for the Malda South and North seats — Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury and his niece Mausam Noor, both from the Ghani Khan clan. In Bankura, he made it a point to have Trinamool congress leader Kashinath Mishra at his side. And he knew which nerves to touch. “It’s a shame that Purulia is still one of the country’s most backward areas. Here poor people can’t eat even once a day. Maoists have taken advantage of the deprivation and lack of development to strike root here,” he said, adding he found Bengal “even more backward than Uttar Pradesh”. “I work in UP but Bengal seems worse,” he said at Malbazar in North Bengal. “The government looked on passively while thousands of workers in Jalpaiguri’s 16 closed tea gardens died of malnourishment. And in the school dropout rate, Bengal is second only to Bihar.” Over the years the Left Front government has failed to utilize several thousand crores of central funds for development sent from New Delhi, he said. “As much as 40% of the funds go back unutilized. It’s among the highest in the country. In Bengal, people have got just 20 days’ work under the 100-day rural work guarantee scheme whereas in Congress-run Andhra Pradesh, it’s near 100%,” Rahul said. “The time has come for the people of Bengal to vote for change. You, the youth, have always shown the way to the rest of the country. Do it again.” (With inputs from Debajyoti Chakraborty in Purulia and Bankura)