LUCKNOW: Accusing BJP leaders of turning the people of Amethi against Gandhi family, AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said for some time they (people of Amethi) got swayed by the narrative of rivals and voted against Rahul Gandhi leading to his defeat in 2019 but their ties with Gandhi family were never broken.
While addressing a gathering of party workers late Thursday night in Amethi, Priyanka said, “The BJP tried to misguide the people and incite them against us saying that we only wanted to grab their land and property. Consequently, some of you got swayed and Rahul ji was defeated in 2019. The old ties between my family and you came to a halt for some time but they were never broken,” she maintained.
She accused the BJP leaders of practising lies and theatrics. “Look at the language of ‘Mangalsutra’ and X-ray the PM uses in his speeches. Actually, he doesn’t have the courage to spell out to you how much jobs he has given so far. He should tell people how much development his government has done during the past decade instead of condemning the Congress rule of 70 years,” she asserted.
Naming BJP candidate Smriti Irani, Priyanka said she (Smriti) could never understand the ethos and depth of the relationship between Gandhis and people of Amethi.
Recalling the days when she used to manage her mother Sonia Gandhi’s campaign in Amethi in 1999, Priyanka said there was no organisation of Congress back then. She said that while managing the election of Sonia, she could realise how deep were the ties of love, affection and respect between the people of Amethi and her family, how much respect they had for her father. “I could realise that such ties should always be respected,” she added.
Politics took a turn
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said, “The politics took a turn for which we were unfit as it was against our ‘sanskars’. We were told not to lie to people, to respect people as they are supreme. We were seeing emergence of a new brand of politics which was using the emotions of people, making the political discourse religion centric to divert the attention of the innocent public from real issues ,” while taking a veiled jibe at the emergence of saffron rule