“Rahul Baba ki Jai !!” , ‘Rahulji Amar Rahe’. These were the slogans heard in Lanjigarh, Orissa yesterday when ‘crown prince’ Rahul tried to woo the tribals in Niyamgiri hills, saying the rejection of Vedanta’s $1.7 billion mining project was their victory.
Just a day back Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh had rejected withdrew environmental clearance to bauxite mining and the alumina refinery project of Vedanta in Orissa. Rahul Gandhi of course didn’t waste a moment and landed up at the site to address the tribals and thus taking credit for something which the government of India did on behest of his mother and their puppet prime minister. Of course Rahul Gandhi reminded everyone that he had promised the same action to those tribals way back in 2008.
Ironically, the issue of Vedanta’s mining was first raised by BJP tribal leader Jual Oram, but during that period BJP was a partner in state government along with BJD led by Naveen Patnaik. Naveen Patnaik who had given the permission to Vedanta for mining of course did not like any such protests. Thus to appease Patnaik, the issue was silenced by the state unit. Later BJP parted ways with BJD and thus should have taken this issue and seized the moment, but they did not.
Rahul Gandhi came much later. But of course he was there at the right place at the right time. Rahul scored a point and delighted the crowd, as he spoke in Oriya. “Apan Mananku, Samastnku Juhar (Namaste to All of You)”, he said at the beginning of his speech. Rahul Gandhi congratulated the tribals for their victory telling them he was their soldier in New Delhi and their victory was victory of ‘common man’. Rahul Gandhi’s visit irked the BJD government in the state, BJP and others. There were accusations made that Rahul Gandhi shared the stage with noted naxal leader Lado Sikoka.
However, Rahul Gandhi has managed to do one thing clearly, he has distanced himself from all the wrongdoings of the central government, all the failures and have taken full credit of the only positive thing the government did. Thus clearly establishing the fact that when the next elections come, people should view Rahul Gandhi not as a part of the government but as a ‘messiah’ who would finally take the power to protect the downtrodden. This is clearly the Congress-Nehru-Gandhi family politics at work.
Partisan Media channels like CNN IBN and NDTV went gung-ho about it. They promoted the event as some mega rally, even calling it India’s Avatar !!! When BJP leader Rajnath Singh was asked about Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Orissa, all he said was “What other political parties are doing on farmers’ related issue I will not comment on it. But people know who is the son of a farmer and who is the supporters of poor people”. Of course the media interpreted it totally differently and presented with headlines like “Rajnath attacks Rahul for his support to Farmers agitation” and “BJP leaders irked by Rahul Gandhi’s Orissa visit”.
Now when and where did Rajnath ATTACK Rahulbaba is anyone’s guess !!
Bigger question is, where was Rahul Gandhi when the government was napping in matters of Kashmir, Pakistan, Bhopal and Commonwealth Games ? Whenever central government does something wrong ,which it does often, Rahul Gandhi is not to be blamed and Sonia Gandhi is ‘unaware’ of such things but when the government does little positive work , there comes Rahul Gandhi the savious of poor people to claim all the credit.
Way to go Congress !!
Tags: bauxite mining, congress politics, jairam ramesh, jual oram, lado sikoka, lanjigarh, naveen patnaik, naxal leader with rahul gandhi, nehru-gandhi family, niyamgiri hills, orissa, rahul gandhi, vedanta