Wayanad’s tryst with history Premium
The Hindu
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's electoral debut in Wayanad attracts attention, sparking debates on dynastic politics and local issues.
The Congress flag fluttered in the air as Anokhe Lal Tiwari waved it from a motely crowd that had gathered at Pozhuthana Bazaar, near Vythiri, in Wayanad to listen to Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
The Nehru cap that the middle-aged man wore matched with his white kurta-pyjama and the large shawl around his neck. It was evident from his clothing that he hailed from north India. As soon as the meeting got over, people in small groups collected around Tiwari just as they surrounded Congress leader and writer Shashi Tharoor. The people wanted selfies with both.
Tiwari, a Hindi-speaking fan of the Gandhis from Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh, obliged and moved to the next corner meeting. Tiwari is among a handful of Congress supporters camping and campaigning in Wayanad. Tiwari gets noticed wherever he goes. He had walked along Rahul Gandhi from Kanyakumari to Kashmir as part of the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
“I will be in Wayanad until Priyanka is elected,” he says in Hindi.
Devastated by massive landslides in end-July, Wayanad is limping back to normalcy. But it’s back in the national spotlight now for an entirely different reason altogether. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s electoral debut in the byelection to the Lok Sabha constituency has catapulted it into the limelight.
Political observers are drawing parallels between Wayanad and Rae Bareli, the Gandhi family’s traditional stronghold in Uttar Pradesh, from where Indira Gandhi was first elected in 1967. “If she gets elected from Wayanad, she will be in Parliament with her mother Sonia Gandhi, a Rajya Sabha MP, and her brother Rahul Gandhi, who is a member of the Lok Sabha – a rare occasion of three from the Gandhi family being in Parliament at the same time,” says a party supporter.
The polling is on November 13.
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