AS Congress continues to be on the downslide, the people of Amethi helplessly wait for a messiah. But no saviour is acceptable to them except for someone from the Gandhi clan.
They are still hopeful that one day either Sonia Gandhi or one of her children will come to lead them. "Bas ek baar tikis lai lein, phir chahe aavain na yahan eko baar. Sab jaat biradari aur dharam barabar hui jai unke khatir (Let her contest even once. After that it does not matter whether she comes here or not)," says Abdul Hamid Khan, a local.
A sense of loss and nostalgia engulfs the people as they recall the ‘good old days’ of the Rajiv Gandhi era. "Sab sapna hui ga (It has become a dream)," says Khan. For them, the Congress led by Narasimha Rao (and now by Sitaram Kesri) and the Congress led by Rajiv Gandhi are as different as chalk from cheese.
There is a general feeling among the people that the present Congress leadership is callous towards Amethi—none of the top leaders campaigned in the constituency. As a result, the Congress won only one of the five assembly seats in the Amethi parliamentary constituency. And that just explains the party’s plight.
But there are other factors also. Sitting in a local chai shop in Jafarganj bazar, Anis, a local resident, explains why the Congress is on the decline. And his statement can be taken as a barometer of the general mood. Says he: "The Congress is no longer governed by principles. Everyday there is some ghotala or the other." One reminds him of the Bofors case which saw Rajiv Gandhi’s downfall, but pat comes the reply: "During those days everything was behind curtains. But today everyone stands exposed." Every single charge of corruption against Rao and his colleagues pushed the people away from Congress. They are more disgusted because a select group of influential people got petrol pumps as part of Satish Sharma’s largesse. "Dalal sab tanki pa gaye hein aur awam ko kuch nahin mila (All the middlemen have got pumps, we haven’t got anything)," says a local Congress worker Lalji Mishra.
Nothing can be more disturbing for the Congress than the fact that people shouted anti-Congress slogans: "Narasimha Rao jaihein jail, Captain Sharma bechihein tel (Rao will go to jail and Captain Sharma will sit idle)."
