If sheer attendance at their respective rallies were to be the criterion, Rahul Gandhi clearly stole the show over the Bahujan Samaj Party in Ambedkarnagar.
The young Congress general secretary seemed to have made some headway in pursuance of his apparent mission to dent the ruling BSP's dalit base in what was better known as chief minister's Mayawati's strong political turf from where she won three Lok Sabha elections. The Congress rally to mark the birth anniversary of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar as well as completion of 125 years of the party, drew a far bigger crowd as compared to the BSP rally held on a ground at a stone's throw from the venue of the Congress' show of strength.
Notwithstanding claims by BSP state chief Swami Prasad Maurya , who termed the Congress rally as "flop-show", the huge turnout at the Congress rally venue spoke volumes of the clear tilt. Significantly, the packed venue of the Congress rally was twice the size of the ground where UP chief minister Mayawati's close lieutenant and parliamentary affairs minister Lalji Verma, was leading the party show. Verma's local influence as a party MLA from this district failed to make much impact in the face of an "alien" Rahul, who had made only one visit to this district earlier.
Many Congress supporters had made it to Ambedkarnagar on their own. Cutting across age, caste and creed, the crowds cheered Rahul each time he promised to alleviate their miseries.
"Rahul bhaiya appears to be sincere in whatever he says; he somehow forces you to believe that he means business and will not betray the poor," observed 85- year old Vishwanath who had taken a bus from the neighbouring district of Siddharth Nagar, to attend the rally. "I belong to a backward caste and have only seen discrimination; but Rahul Gandhi lends hope", he said.
Forty-five year old Siya Ram , who was doing good business by selling eatables outside the Congress rally venue, was of the view, "I have never seen such a crowd at any political rally here in many years; Rahul Gandhi has somehow won the hearts of the people." Interestingly, Siya Ram , a dalit was among those who claimed to have been a staunch BSP supporter until recently. "I did support BSP in the hope that it would bring an end to the woes of my deprived community ; but the party seems to be taking us for granted."
Ironically, the ruling party also failed in its strategy of repeatedly posing hurdles in Rahul's rally , where he also flagged off ten "chetna yatras" (awakening marches) as a part of his mission to revive the Congress in UP. Initially, the local administration refused allotment of a particular ground sought by the Congress on the plea that it was already booked for the BSP rally. Later, the administration also came in the way when Rahul's desire to garland Ambedkar's statue was conveyed to them.
"The administration claimed that since Ambedkar's statue happened to be on the ground where BSP rally was proposed, it would not have been practically possible to take Rahul Gandhi to that crowded spot ; hence he had no option but to garland his portrait that was kept on the dais," state Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi told mediapersons.
According to her, "the ruling party had by design allotted the bigger ground to the Congress so as to embarrass us in the event that the rally would not attract a large enough crowd; but that plan proved counter-productive as Rahul Gandhi was a huge draw with the crowds." What added more strength to Rahul's show was the participation by all sections of the Congress leadership. "This was the first time in many years that such a large galaxy of Congress leaders had converged at any single occasion, sending the message loud and clear that we stand unitedly behind our young leader whose mission is to re-establish the Congress party in the country's most populous state," observed Joshi.
These included all UP Congress ministers at the centre, all party MPs, MLAs and both young and old committed Congressmen.