Sonia-Vajpayee Faceoff In Uttar Pradesh Fails To Inspire

It was an opportunity too good to be missed: to see Sonia Gandhi and Atal Behari Vajpayee wooing the electorate at the same venue within 24 hours of each other. It could have been the experience of a lifetime; instead it left an impression undeserving of the magnificence of the scale, sweep and the stakes of the biggest electoral exercise ever in the world.

In gladiatorial terms, it should have been a slugout, hopefully a knockout. Vajpayee was going to be making his first speech after Sonia Gandhi had laid into him at Delhis Ramlila Ground, calling him a liar. This was the last day of campaigning here and Vajpayee was speaking in a city known to be pro-BJP, in the most important constituency in an area (west UP) which had showered its vote on the BJP the last time around.

 

Instead, the spectacle turned into an uninspiring display of one avowedly apolitical woman, as out of place in the language of politics as its idiom, trading purely on the familys asset of goodwill and fame; and an ageing, somewhat tired, superbly polished orator giving a faultless display of his skill at working a crowd but somehow lacking the look of a winner and the passion expected of a prospective prime minister in what could well be his last try at the office.

First the bare facts. Sonia drew much the larger crowd on Friday. Upwards of 25,000 crowded into the citys Inter DAV College ground. There wasnt a rooftop around which did not have masses of people. The roads to Muzaffarnagar were crowded with bus and tractor loads of farmers - mostly Jats - on their way to the meeting. The crowd was distinctly drawn from the poorer strata: lungi and shirt was the commonest wear.

Vajpayees crowd was smaller; no more than 15,000. More importantly, it was different. There were many more middle-class women. Men were mostly wearing trousers and shirts with mill-knitted sweaters. The approach to Muzaffarnagar was uncluttered with tractors or buses; the BJPs supporters were in cars or scooters.

It was just as well that the crowd that came for the Congress meeting did not come to listen to Sonia; they were content to wave at Rahul while she spoke. Sonia had little to say, and what she had to say she read out from loose sheets, in the manner of a school teacher giving a dictation test in a language still not entirely natural to her.

After the obligatory reference to the great sons of western UP and their sacrifices in the fight for independence, her spiel was predictable: You know I am not interested in politics; after the death of my husband I have been content to be a housewife; I was forced to come out when I saw the precious legacy of my mother-in- law and husband being dissipated; when I saw the nation in peril from fissiparious and divisive forces; the Congress is the only party which can tackle your problems so please vote for the Congress.

The crowd interrupts the 15-minute monologue only once - where she dwells on the nations call which has drawn her out. Otherwise, it is content to look bored, concentrate on Rahul and wave madly whenever he does. Does it matter that she is an Italian? we ask one. Nahin, sahib, she is our bahu.

If Sonia was faithful to her status of a political novice, Vajpayees 20-minute oration was a masterpiece of political oratory. Expectedly, he started off with a reference to Sonias speech at the Ramlila Ground. Taking the lofty high ground and refusing to stoop to her level he rests his case for the moment by recalling that, he had never been called a liar.

From Bofors, Vajpayee moves to the cancer of corruption, a non-BJP speciality. Bofors was followed by the Urea scandal; why, in some states, he chuckles, leaders even eat fodder. The BJP stands for stability and cleanliness; the Congress wants stability and wants people to forget about cleanliness. The countrys leader, he says modestly, should be nishkalank. (He is; even Advani is not).

Then he reads out the scoreboard of the last 50 years: 40 per cent people under the poverty line; 60 per cent illiteracy; eight crore youth unemployed; four crore child labour. Sonia Gandhi pretends she is innocent of this legacy but the Congress has ruled 48 of those 50 years. Last time you did not give us a majority, and all our opponents ganged up but how long can they stop us ? Ham Dilli aa gaye hain aur Dilli se Nayi Dilli kitni dur hai, (We are already in Delhi and how far is New Delhi from Delhi?), says Vajpayee and the crowd roars.

Again the same thing is happening, he warns: they are all ganging up against the BJP. Dilli mein phir khichri pak rahi hai, he says conspiratorially. Dont let this succeed; dont let opponents come together on an anti-BJP and an anti-probe-into-corruption platform.

He then lists out the BJP manifesto promises: exercising the N-option; one crore jobs every year; 20 lakh houses; free education for girls; womens reservation bill. There is something for all who have to come to hear him; for the minority community which is absent there is no giveaway but no mention of the Mandir either.

Finally, the finale. You gave 48 years to the Congress, 18 months to the UF. Give us five years and if the BJP is unable to deliver , I will not come to seek your vote again. I said I would not stoop to Soniajis level and I will not. I have said I will not use the same unparliamentary language that she used and I will not. The fitting reply to her will come not from me but from you. Vote for the BJP. It was neat, much too neat; where was the passion of Vajpayee the poet ?