NEW DELHI: “Kaun kehta hai aasman mei surakh nahi ho sakta?” (Who says you can’t puncture the skies) — tweeted Union minister Smriti Irani, minutes after breaching the famed traditional Gandhi citadel, Amethi. It was Congress President Rahul Gandhi who had been laid low.
Even in Rae Bareli, the winning margin of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi had dwindled from 3.5 lakh to 1.67 lakh. Irani’s poser went home.
Rahul has perhaps seen it coming. One reason why he left for the safer climes of Kerala’s Wayanad. Amethi rejected him out of grouse, and BJP cashed in his retreat from the electoral epicentre of North.
Amethi had elected four of Gandhi family members — Sanjay Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, in succession. But what clicked for Irani was she stayed associated with Amethi even after the 2014 loss.
Irani’s win is the culmination of a long-pending grievance that the Gandhi family had not paid enough attention to people despite their loyalty. In Irani, they saw an alternative.
The ‘missing MP’ tag stuck to Rahul too. The anger over poor infrastructure, public health and locked industries was visible.
There was a forewarning of disaster too in 2014 when Rahul’s victory margin shrunk to 100,000 from 3.70 lakh in 2009. The message has been clearer during the 2017 state polls too. The ‘prodigal son’ was too far to read the signs.