Priyanka’s Indira Moment

 

Priyanka’s Indira Moment

During his visit to Lakhimpur Kheri, UP, on September 25,2021, the Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Mishra made a very provocative speech against the farmers agitating over 10 months for the repeal of the farm laws. He said: “If I got down to action, then they would not have even found a way to run away…to mend their ways, otherwise I will make them face me and set them right in two minutes”. A few days later on October 3, the Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, addressing the ruling party’s Kishan Morcha spoke of jaisa ko taisa- tit-for tat- and called upon volunteers to “pick up sticks and answer those furious farmers. We will see everything. If you stay in jail for two-four months, you will become a big leader. Don’t worry about bail.”

 

These offensive speeches are a clear incitement to violence, setting the stage for the mayhem at Lakhimpur Kheri. On Sunday October 3, four persons were mowed down near a village Tukunia, Lakhimpur Kheri.  Three SUVs – one belonging to Ajay Mishra, another to his son Ashish Mishra and the third without a number plate- in an act of revenge by arrogant powerful and influential people, ploughed through the peacefully protesting farmers, killing four farmers and a journalist and injuring several people. This barbaric heinous crime demands most severe punishment. On hearing about the incident, many farmers from the nearby areas descended at the spot.  And the mob fury  got into vandalism, and in a retaliatory action beat up the occupants of the vehicles, resulting in  the death of three persons, with Ashish Mishra managing to run away. The FIRS were registered against the minister’s son and some unidentified persons on charges of murder, rioting and criminal conspiracy, but no arrests were made.

This has forced the Supreme Court of India to take a suo motu cognizance of the gruesome murders, seeking explanation from the UP government why no arrests were made. On October 8, the bench of apex court headed by the Chief Justice N.V. Ramana has asked the UP-government counsel Harish Salve: “What is the message you are sending? If a case is lodged under Section 302, the police will normally go and arrest the accused.  After all, this is a case involving the brutal death of eight people. The law should have taken its course and all accused should have been arrested… Is it the way you treat accused in other cases also? Issuing notice to them to appear and not arresting them.” The rule of law, means all citizens- the high and the mighty and a ragpicker on the street-are equal before the law and if any offence is committed the law takes its course.  But in this case, the Yogi government, known for arresting people on the drop of a hat, has applied double standards to botch up the crime and protect the accused.

Instead of going after the killers and arresting them, the UP government in an attempt to cover up cordoned off the area, declared curfew and prevented the opposition leaders reaching Lakhimpur Kheri, and meeting the families of the victims.  In a democracy, the opposition has the legitimate right to protest and visit the victims’ families.  It is a bizarre argument that if the opposition leaders visit the deceased families, it would lead to tension and create a law-and-order situation. The tension is created by not immediately arresting the accused and trying to shield them. The selective and partisan application of law by using the brute force of the state will only ignite the fire.  During his recent visit to the US. Narendra Modi spoke of rich democratic traditions of India and described India as ‘mother of democracy’, when every dissent is suppressed and crushed ruthlessly under his rule in India. What we see is the emergence of an elected autocracy, accountable to none.  He didn’t offer condolences to the bereaved families; nor did he condemn the dastardly act, instead he was quick to congratulate his party workers for securing a big victory for the ruling party in local body polls in Gujarat.

 

Priyanka Gandhi was illegally detained and kept in detention for three days, preventing her from proceeding to Lakhimpur Kheri to meet the victims’ families, and confined to a guest house in Sitapur. An FIR was registered against her and 10 others, eight of whom were not present when she was arrested. She was not allowed to meet her legal counsel. These intimidating high- handed tactics of the Yogi government didn’t deter her, and she refused to leave the place until she was allowed to meet the families of the deceased. And ultimately. she was released and allowed to proceed to Lakhimpur Kheri to meet the victims’ families along with Rahul Gandhi and the Chief Ministers of Chhattisgarh and Punjab -Bhupesh Bagel and Charanjit Singh Channi.

 

This is a Priyanka’s Indira moment. In October 1978, the Janata Government of Morarji Desai arrested Indira Gandhi on the charge of corruption and kept in jail for a night. and when she was produced before a magistrate next day, she was released as there was no substance in the charge against her. Subsequently, she had contested and won a Lok Sabha seat from the Chikmagalur Constituency, Karnataka. However, the vindictive Janata government got her arrested again in December invoking this time the so-called breach of privileges and contempt of Parliament and sent her to Tihar jail and after a week she was released.  This had won her nation-wide sympathy and support and set the stage for her fight to return to power in 1980.  Had the Morarji government left her alone and not resorted to witch-hunting to fix her somehow and eliminate her from the political scene, she would have been a history, after suffering a humiliating defeat in the General Election of March 1977. 

 

Priyanka has the fire of her grandmother. One could see the shades of her grandmother in her doughty resistance to the Yogi government-the spirit of Indira Gandhi in her grand-daughter. The overwhelming support that Priyanka received after her detention in Lakhimpur Kheri is a proof that it is nigh impossible to finish off the Gandhis. The Yogi government made a blunder in detaining and then arresting her. Indira Gandhi was the first one to reach whenever there was any calamity. Priyanka instantly responds in the same way, visiting victims’ families and offering them condolences, empathy and support, as she did in the Unnao and the Hathras cases. She is fearless. She once said: “I am the grand-daughter of Indira Gandhi. I am not afraid of anybody."  She has the courage and determination of Indira Gandhi- the ‘Iron Lady’ who partitioned Pakistan and liberated Bangladesh in the most decisive victory in the Indo-Pak war of 1971 that India had ever seen, and who ultimately made the supreme sacrifice  to preserve the unity and integrity of her country.

 

However the political rivals may try to denigrate the Gandhis through innuendoes and orchestrated campaign of calumny and the arm-chair columnists may write their obituary, Rahul and Priyanka are destined to make history, like their illustrious Nehru-Gandhi family. Thiers' has been the single most fearless consistent and uncompromising vocal-voice against the Modi’s authoritarian regime. And revival of the Congress party, as its rank and file believe, and protection of democracy and democratic institutions from all out assault, to a large extent, depend on them.